TV & Film News – Nightmare Alley, Schmigadoon! big winners at CAFTCAD Awards

Nightmare Alley and Schmigadoon! were the big winners at this year’s CAFTCAD (Canadian Alliance for Film and Television Costume Arts and Design) Awards. Handed out May 7, 1940s New York-set Nightmare Alley won Costume Design in Film – Period and Excellence in Crafts Award – Building. Apple+ musical parody series Schmigadoon! claimed the awards for Excellence in Crafts – Illustration and Costume Design In TV – Period. Sort Of, Night Raiders, and Maid were among other productions that picked up awards. Find the full list of winners here.

The Guild of Music Supervisors Canada (GMSC) has created a new award, called “The Huey”, honouring legendary music supervisor David Hayman, who passed away in May 2020. To be presented at the Canadian Sync Awards at El Mocambo on June 9 in Toronto, “The Huey” will be awarded to an aspiring music supervisor with a passion for the craft. The recipient must be a Canadian resident who shows initiative and interest in pursuing music supervision as a career, but has not yet gained experience in the field. The GMSC encourages aspiring music supervisors from across the country to submit an application. The award grants the recipient opportunities to speak with established Canadian music supervisors to learn the basics of the job and build connections and potential internship/job opportunities, in addition to a $1,500 honorarium. Applications are due May 18.

Media Technology Monitor (MTM) has released a new report on how Canadians are using and paying for television. While many have speculated that SVOD services like Netflix and Prime Video could lead to a mass exodus from regular paid TV services, MTM says this isn’t the case. It found while paid TV subscriptions have been in decline for over a decade, they still remain fairly high with 69% of Anglophone households and three in four Francophone homes having a paid TV service. Cable remains the most popular type of paid TV service (33%), followed by fiber optic (23%) and satellite (13%). Despite the growing popularity of SVOD services, such as Netflix or Amazon Prime Video, English speakers report spending more time watching traditional TV than SVOD services. SVODs rather supplement TV subscriptions, with more than half of English speakers having both a paid TV service and an SVOD subscription. 

Great Pacific Media (GPM), the factual division of Thunderbird Entertainment Group, has entered into an exclusive, multi-year strategic partnership with Sean Connolly’s newly-launched Original Content Lab (OCL), which is focused on developing unscripted primetime and kids series for the global market, that GPM will produce. Through the partnership, GPM is doubling down on its unscripted development efforts that have led to a significant growth in production volume, with eight series currently underway, including new productions Deadman’s Curse (History, Hulu), Gut Job and Styled (both HGTV, Hulu). The deal further bolsters GPM’s development presence in Toronto. Connolly has more than two decades of experience creating, developing and selling unscripted series, leading development on hit competition series Blown Away (Netflix), documentary 9/11: Control the Skies (Bell Media, Nat Geo International), and paranormal franchises Haunted Hospitals and Paranormal 911 (T+E, Discovery TRVL). 

TSN will carry all 64 games of the 2022 IIHF Men’s World Championship, as the puck drops May 13–29 in Finland. Defending World Champions Team Canada begin their quest for gold against Germany on Friday, May 13 at 1 p.m. ET on TSN, TSN.ca, and the TSN app. TSN’s coverage is led by play-by-play commentator Gord Miller and analyst Mike Johnson, who deliver the call live from Helsinki for all games in Group A, including Team Canada and medal round games. Dennis Beyak and analyst Dave Tomlinson are in Tampere to bring viewers the call for all games in Group B. Reporters Lindsay Hamilton and Claire Hanna are on-site providing updates and player interviews throughout the tournament. From the TSN Studio, Laura Diakun and Mark Roe host network coverage, alongside analysts Dave Reid and Marc Methot.

CBC has announced the return of original competition series Race Against The Tide (10×30) for a second season, produced by marblemedia and premiering July 10 on CBC and CBC Gem. Award-winning Hip Hop artist Maestro Fresh Wes, who is now based in Saint John, NB, hosts the new season featuring a new group of sand sculptors who will compete at the Bay of Fundy to create extraordinary sand art before the world’s highest tide comes in. 

TVO Original The Long Weekend follows a Zimbabwean-Canadian family on their first backcountry adventure, from packing supplies in Toronto to their last paddle stroke in Algonquin Park. Viewers also follow two gay male newcomers to Canada who highlight some of the ways in which LGBTQ+ people are newly claiming space in the outdoor recreation world. Interviews with a local outfitter, park volunteers and board members from the Friends of Algonquin Park also offer insight into the changing face of camping in Canada. The Long Weekend premieres June 7 on TVO, TVO Today, YouTube and smart TV services.

Super Channel has announced that award-winning New Zealand-set, family action-adventure, Mystic, will return to Super Channel Heart & Home for a second and third season. Based on bestselling author Stacy Gregg’s Pony Club Secrets book series, the Super Channel Heart & Home Original in association with BBC, returns for Season 2 on May 29, with Season 3 slated for Spring 2023. Each half-hour episode of the eight-episode second season will also be available on Super Channel On Demand, the day following its weekly linear broadcast. Viewers can catch up on Season 1 with a marathon beginning at 12:45 pm ET on May 29 or available now On Demand. 

Hollywood Suite is bringing new six-part drama Faking Hitler to Canadian audiences. The German true crime series will premiere June 9 with new episodes airing weekly throughout June. Viewers can also catch the show on Hollywood Suite On Demand. Faking Hitler is inspired by the true story of forged Hitler diaries and the journalist who fell for them. 

Mike Myers’ Netflix project The Pentaverate includes a special tribute to former CFTO personality Glen Cochrane. The Pentaverate, based on one of the conspiracy theories in Myers’ 1993 comedy So I Married An Axe Murderer, is centered around the character of aging Toronto newsman Ken Scarborough, an homage to Cochrane, who spent 25 years at CFTO, starting in the late 1960s and was best known for hosting the “Our Man Friday” segment. The show’s final credits include footage of Myers and Cochrane, who passed away in 2012. Myers has dedicated The Pentaverate to “local journalists everywhere.”

The Calgary Black Film Festival will run a hybrid program and events lineup, May 26-29. The festival’s first in-person offering in Calgary, with continued online programming for accessibility across Canada, in-person screenings and events will take place at the Globe Cinema, the Dome Theatre at Telus Spark Science Centre, the Calgary Memorial Park Library and the Calgary Central Library. The festival will open with Desiree Kahikopo-Meiffret’s The White Line and close with Calgary filmmaker Enver Samuel’s documentary, Murder in Paris, a political crime thriller that traces the motives for the assassination of anti-Apartheid activist, Dulcie September.

Hot Docs 2022 wrapped Sunday, bringing 225 films from 63 countries to audiences in Toronto cinemas and across Canada online. The Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary, which recognizes the top Canadian feature as determined by audience poll, went to Eternal Spring (D: Jason Loftus | P: Jason Loftus, Masha Loftus, Yvan Pinard, Kevin Koo | Canada), receiving the top prize of $25,000. Okay! (The ASD Band Film) (D: Mark Bone | P: Gregory Rosati, Amalie Bruun | Canada), a backstage look at a band of four talented autistic musicians, placed second and received a $15,000 prize. Unloved: Huronia’s Forgotten Children (D: Barri Cohen | P: Craig Baines | Canada), exploring abuse inside Ontario’s oldest government-run home for disabled children, placed third and was awarded $10,000. Eternal Spring also placed first in the overall audience poll, winning the Hot Docs Audience Award. Read more about this year’s other award winners here and pitch winners here.

The Banff World Media Festival (BANFF) has unveiled its lineup of Master Classes, featuring talent and creatives from popular series The Umbrella Academy, Starstruck, Rutherford Falls and Among the Stars, as well as upcoming new comedy series The Lake. Among those taking part in the 43rd edition of the festival, June 12-15, are The Umbrella Academy star Elliot Page; Creator, Writer, Executive Producer and Showrunner Steve Blackman and Netflix Head of Scripted Series, U.S. and Canada Peter Friedlander; Starstruck creator, writer and star Rose Matafeo; Rutherford Falls co-creator and showrunner Sierra Teller Ornelas; actor Michael Greyeyes; Universal Television President Erin Underhill; AMAZE executive producers Michael Souther and Teza Lawrence; Brent Hayes, head of Scripted Content, Canada, Amazon Studios; and Ben Turner, director, producer and founding partner of Fulwell 73 Productions.