‘Anthropocene’ Tops Canadian Screen Award Doc Winners

Posted on April 1st, 2019 • Comments

Anthropocene – Workers in underground potash mine in Berezniki, Russia 2018
Pphoto © Edward Burtynsky, courtesy Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto


By Pat Mullen

Jennifer Baichwal, Nick de Pencier, and Ed Burtynsky are triple crown winners! The team scored its third win from the Canadian Academy when Anthropocene: The Human Epoch took the Ted Rogers Award for Best Documentary Feature at last night’s Canadian Screen Awards. The filmmakers previously won the Genie for 2006’s Manufactured Landscapes and the CSA for 2013’s Watermark, making them unstoppable for their landmark environmental trilogy. Anthropocene also won the doc prize for Best Cinematography for de Pencier at yesterday’s awards. The win caps off a remarkable run for Anthropocene on the Canadian circuit, which included a spot on Canada’s Top Ten and the Rogers Award for Best Canadian Feature from the Toronto Film Critics Association. (Read more about Anthropocene in this profile from TIFF.)

Other winners for the night included.The Devil’s Share for Best Film Editing in a Documentary and Charlie Tyrell’s My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes for Best Documentary Short. Porno Tapes made the Oscar shortlist in the same category last year. The big winner on the film from was Geneviève Dulude-De Celles’ drama A Colony, which won Best Film, Best Actress (Emily Brière), and Best First Feature. POV previously interviewed Dulude-De Celles back at TIFF 2015 for her first (documentary) feature, the poetic observational film Welcome to F.L.. Other big winners includes Maxime Giroux’s drama the Great Darkened Days and the smash hit TV comedy Schitt’s Creek.

Last night’s documentary winners are:

Ted Rogers Best Feature Length Documentary Award
Anthropocene: The Human Epoch – Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier, Edward Burtynsky

Best Short Documentary
My Dead Dad’s Porno Tapes – Charlie Tyrell

Best Achievement in Cinematography in a Feature Length Documentary
Anthropocene: The Human Epoch – Nicholas de Pencier

Best Achievement in Film Editing in a Feature Length Documentary
The Devil’s Share – Michel Giroux