10 Oscar categories with Canadian contenders

The 88thAcademy Awardnominations were announced this morning, and that was good news for a dozen Canadians across ten different categories.

Best Picture

Exactlyhalf of the eight films nominated for best picture this year wereat least partially shot on Canadiansoil, with Brooklyn(OldMontreal standing in for 1950s Brooklyn), The Revenant(Alberta playing Montana and South Dakota circa 1823), Room(Toronto as an unspecified American city) and Spotlight(Toronto and Hamilton doing their best Boston) allin the mix for the Academy's biggest prize.

While that's an exceptional percentage, it's comparable to ten years ago when the Canadian-shotBrokeback Mountain andCapote made up 40 per centof the best picture nominees (andlost to Crash, which was oddly enough directed by London, Ont.-born Paul Haggis). But none of those films despite Canadian talent being involved were actually Canadian productions.Brooklynand Room,however, are (in both cases co-productions with Ireland). Today they became only the second and third Canadian films,even if neither is actually set here. Their sole predecessor?1980's Canada-France co-production Atlantic City.As the title suggests, that film wasn't exactly full of Canada playing itself either.But we'll take what we can get.

Best Supporting Actress and Best Adapted Screenplay

Speaking of London, Ont. what a big day for that town.Rachel McAdamsfinally can call herself an Oscar nominee for her performance asPulitzer Prize-winning journalist SachaPfeiffer in Spotlight, whileEmma Donoghue's adaptation of her own book Roomalso nabbed a nod. Though Donoghue was born in Ireland, she moved to Canada in 1998 and has since become a Canadian citizen, residingwith her partner and two childrenin London,the same city whereMcAdamswas born.

Best Original Song

Toronto's Abel TesfayeakaThe Weekndand his St. Catharines-borncollaborator Stephan Mocciohelped make Fifty Shades of Grey anunlikely Oscar nominee thanks to their best original song nomination for "Earned It."

Best Sound Mixing, Best Makeup and Hairstyling, Best Production Design and Best Visual Effects

A quintet of very talented Canucks got nominated for theirbehind-the-scenes efforts onThe Martianand The Revenant,respectively: Chris Duesterdiek(sound mixing, The Revenant), Hamish Purdy(production design,The Revenant),Paul Masssey(sound mixing, The Martian), Robert Pandini (makeup and hairstyling, The Revenant) and Cameron Waldbauer (visual effects, The Revenant)

Best Animated Short andBest Documentary Short Subject

Historically, Canadians have tended to do very well in the short film categories, and this year was no exception.In the animated category, Richard Williams was nominated for his short Prologue (along with co-director Imogen Sutton), while on the documentary side Adam Benzine'sClaude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoahand SharmeenObaid-Chinoy's A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness were both in the mix.