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Queens of the Qing Dynasty wins at Screen Nova Scotia Awards

By Kelly Townsend
May 16, 2023
The film won Best Feature at the annual awards gala, with Bystanders, On the Fringe, and Vollies among the winners.

A shley McKenzie’s Queens of the Qing Dynasty won Best Feature at the annual Screen Nova Scotia Awards.

The 2023 winners were announced on May 13 at a gala event in the Schooner Showroom at Casino Nova Scotia. The awards celebrate the best of Nova Scotia’s local film and television industry.

Queens of the Qing Dynasty (pictured) is written and directed by Mackenzie, who also produced the film under her banner Hi-Vis Films alongside producers Nelson MacDonald and Britt Kerr. It was shot in Cape Breton, N.S., and premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival last year.

Cory Thibert’s On the Fringe, about Canada’s Fringe Festival circuit and executive produced by Nancy Kenny of Broken Turtle Productions, won Best Documentary Film.

The awards gala saw two new awards presented for 2023. The first was Best Television Series – Unscripted, which went to docuseries Living in Flow, produced by Britney Canzi and Walter Forsyth of Gorgeous Mistake Productions with the help of Vice Canada’s Take Care incubator with the Telus Fund.

Meanwhile, Best Television Series – Scripted went to Bell Fibe TV1 series Vollies (Canadian Content Studios), which stars director and writer Jonathan Torrens.

The second new award was Outstanding Achievement in Editing, which went to Kimberlee McTaggart for her work on Moonshine (Six Eleven Media, Entertainment One). Her past credits include Diggstown, Call Me Fitz, and This Hour has 22 Minutes.

Two of the four winners for the ACTRA Maritimes Awards for Outstanding Performances went to Bystanders actors Taylor Olson and Marlee Sansom. Bystanders led nominees for the 2023 Screen Nova Scotia Awards with a total of six nominations. The film is directed by Koumbie and produced by Terry Greenlaw’s Picture Plant.

The additional outstanding performance winners were Briar Mosher for Leah Johnston’s short film Mother’s Skin, and Phoebe Rex for Jason Eisener’s horror sci-fi film Kids vs. Aliens.

A full list of winners is available on the Screen Nova Scotia Twitter page.

Image courtesy of Screen Nova Scotia