The film follows a family dominated by Black women who are forced to confront secrets that have been hidden for decades when a man shows up at their door and promptly falls dead. But as we bid farewell to the 2010s, thats all changed: Cline Dion is the new queen of cool. And speaking of her work, this year marked the close of a seven-year tour across Canada and the U.S., where Belcourts Walking With Our Sisters Project served as a memorial to honour missing and murdered Indigenous women and their families. To look at the contributors list of this issue now is a bit surreal. He also appeared in Waitress and Rock of Ages before originating the role of Sonny in the Broadway musical premiere of A Bronx Tale. Some of the photographs feature guards, like Armed guard outside Tower 3, while others document the more harrowing spaces of the facility, where prisoners like Paul Bernardo were kept 23 hours a day. This summer, I did a show called Dear Alanis, where I performed a stripped-down piano version of the song; I had never realized how devastating the lyric Just make sure you dont tell on me, especially to members of your family was until I sung it myself. (And youre also as Liu has excitedly expressed about to have an Asian superhero to dress up as on Halloween.). It was such an easy song to like. Canadian drag much like much Canadian pop culture has often occupied a smaller sibling position next to the general epicentre that is the United States. We were all afraid of this project, but what we discovered in the process is a kind of joy in the act of creation, to make something out of such a tragic event. (The tour may be over, but the show lives on in a beautifully filmed BBC production, which you can watch on the streaming service Marquee TV.). With Falls Around Her, Darlene Naponse gave Tantoo Cardinal her first starring role in her more than 40-year-long career, which has included over 120 film and television credits. Since her television debut, shes been praised for her interview style and evolving approach to monologues, and now the only barrier left is for viewers like me to learn how to stay up until 1:35 a.m. More women than ever before win Governor Generals Literary Awards. Well, he nailed it. Its the second half of Betroffenheit, though, that elevates it to genius. On NFY, truth is a lie you have the confidence to believe. But it was still a joy when Vancouvers Ryan Reynolds tossed on some Spandex to play Deadpool, the Marvel superhero defined by his DGAF attitude, comedic timing and lust for revenge in the wake of an experiment gone wrong. (Could it be Banksy?) Many provincial arts councils have done the same: the arts councils in Ontario, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Quebec all made funding Indigenous arts one of their key priorities. We met on the set of my very first acting job a film whose title Ill omit to spare us both the embarrassment and we played boyfriend and girlfriend. ), 57 artists come together to raise money for Haiti with Wavin Flag. In July of 2012, we all set out on a journey: after four seasons of action, adventure, the Albuquerque underworld and Heisenberg, Breaking Bads fifth and last season premiered and brought with it an intensity I cant possibly describe in a simple paragraph. Obviously, anyone with a beating heart prefers the latter, especially since with the release of her debut single in September, we were introduced to Mission, B.C.s pop heroine, who quickly rose to international stardom following the U.S. release of Call Me Maybe in 2012 thanks, blessedly, to the help of Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez, who stumbled upon the track and made their own lip dub video. 'Perry Mason' Star Tatiana Maslany on the Balancing Act of Playing Sister Alice . While there are artists who emerged from the wreckage of these schools, I mourn the loss of the artists who may have been if theyd had the support, and the Indigenous artistic movements that could have flourished if only Canada hadnt marked our nations for destruction. Admittedly, despite the attention given to Guillaume Ct the choreographer and principal dancer of the National Ballet of Canada who also starred in the film Lost in Motion didnt change the distribution game. The best weight loss systems usually have a charismatic fitness guru behind the brand, so Nathan hires a random bodybuilder named Jack to play the part, booking him a slew of TV appearances. But when youre Keanu Reeves, you get headlines praising you for dating someone your own age a feat rarely replicated by your actor contemporaries. It suggests a future where the probes have outlived us as the artist puts it, where several of the spacecraft continue to partially function, to do their intended jobs, to ultimately find signs of life whilst transmitting the data back to a planet where no one is left to receive it. But theres also hope in Richardsons installations, most recently her Embers and the Giants, which memorializes an endangered old-growth forest in British Columbia and invites us to protect our landscape. To balance making millions, raising twins and mayyyyybe also to rescue Las Vegas tourism after the catastrophic crash of the Great Recession, Dion launches a second residency on the Strip. David Ly is the author of the chapbook Stubble Burn and the poetry collection Mythical Man. And yet, then came Art Angels. Although Reeves has never officially confirmed this story, it seems so Keanu-esque that we might as well believe it. Zadie Xa brings her Korean-Canadian diasporic mythologies to Londons Art Night, Zadie Xa Child of Magohalmi and the Echoes of Creation (Keith Hunter). And his exhibit took full advantage of the interstitial state of the pavilion there was no roof, few walls and a definite feeling that the structure was about to take a new shape. (That, and the many GIFs circulating on Twitter of Jung either being adorable or taking his shirt off. Somewhere, Do They Know Its Christmas weeps. (while they themselves borrowed from Scandinavian landscapes) gave us a truly modern language for the Canadian wild that has become a signature of our own art history. The third single off Carly Rae Jepsens 2015 album E MO TION, Your Type is just one of Jepsens many pop diamonds. Those who are worthy are scooped up to heaven, while unworthy souls are doomed to spend an eternity in hell. But I digress. ), Jan Lisieckis debut recording for Deutsche Grammophon is released. The Toronto comedian seemed to fear no one, brought receipts to every argument and created a safe place for like minds who were as angry, confused and scared as she appeared to be. And similar to the Temple of Light in Santiago, this structure is a light-filled dome in the wilderness. And yet voters overlooked this, oh-so-questionably deciding to nominate the vastly inferior performance Rami Malek gave in Bohemian Rhapsody instead and hand him the trophy. On Nov. 15, her new English album, Courage, even debuted at No.1 on the US Billboard 200 chart, a first in 17 years (and an achievement a decade in the making). What made it even better was that BoJack himself was voiced by Toronto native Will Arnett, who brought serious weight to a role that necessitated it. Fielder is a comedian a dry one. I cannot think of a better way to end this decade than with the promise of her musical return. Hes since lived his life according to that system, and the Good Place gang in a mission to find out if Doug is a model example for mankind travel to Alberta to talk to him. Hand-picked links plus the best of CBC Arts, delivered weekly. And Thompsons seemingly fine with all of it. It couldnt be more obvious than on mid-tempo anthem Imperfections, where Dion sings that she has her own you guessed it imperfections. Prisons are terrifying its hard for me to even watch the caricatured version you see in Orange is the New Black. (The number of panel discussions and essays centred around the question What makes Cancon Cancon? speaks to this.) Here are 10 times the internet swooned over the musings and (apparent) misadventures of Keanu Reeves. In March of 2016, the veteran news anchor morphed into the iconic Peter Moosebridge, Zootopias beloved newscaster, at the behest of Chris Williams, the Waterloo, Ont., native who worked on the film alongside co-director Byron Howard and convinced him that Mansbridge was (is) the Canadian Walter Cronkite. In related news, I would trust Peter Moosebridge with my life. ), but there were a few clear oversights on the Academys part when it came to nominating Canuck excellence in the 2010s. If you drew a Venn diagram of yoga and rad buildings and bonkers natural beauty, Instagram would definitely be the term in the middle. The true story has been heralded as a reminder of human kindness and the way we tend to rally together even in times of fear, anger and tragedy. By a ghost. In short, Jamess star has been rising fast this decade, and it only seems poised to soar further in the 2020s. Thats just the basic formula, but from the first episode, NFY was engineering something grander than a five-year troll. And ultimately, it was like a mainline to being young again. While the awards have had a tendency to be hosted by white actors, Oh made history as she delivered the opening monologue onstage in a blazing red dress that Villanelle would have definitely killed for. The Quebec success story of the 2010s teaches us that great artists are global in appeal, that we dont need to fret over losing them (or worry that theyll lose their unique artistry and local values) and that films and series that resonate with large audiences can play a significant role in cultural rapprochement and understanding. At the end of the decade, Dion wanted to take time off again to have another child, but getting pregnant proved to be more difficult for her than the first time. A New Day era acrobats are out, old-school flair is in. After being a victim of fraud, Johnny Rose and his family go from extremely wealthy to penniless overnight. From there, Meghies journey becomes a bit of a filmmaker fairytale. Its one of the finest things Kims Convenience has given us. Add to this the Leacock Medal, the Giller Prize and the Walter Scott Prize, and its no wonder deWitt continues to earn accolades for his dark humour and fiction work. And rewatching NFY, nothings more important or flexible than Nathans understanding of the T-word. The Canadian married couple wrote the lyrics, book and music for this show, which tells the story of a small Newfoundland town that becomes flooded with Americans after 38 planes make an emergency landing following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Deadmau5 released The Veldt, a retelling of Bradburys story of the same name, in 2012. Here are 10 Canadians who couldnt help but kill it on the Great White Way this decade. And starting in 2017, Lees hilarious work paid off when he won back-to-back Canadian Screen Awards, reaffirming that when minority creatives have space to tell their own stories, the world responds positively and audiences are left wanting more. Nathan, of course, manufactures a few bizarre schemes in the hunt for information. She signed with Creative Artists Agency (a.k.a. When did Justin Bieber, a wee baby maestro, evolve into a national treasure? has a leading 14 nominations including best TV drama series and best actress in a continuing drama series for star Tatiana Maslany, who appears as a host of cloned characters on the hit show. Brooke Lynn Hytes would go on that next year to win Miss Continental, one of the most prestigious pageant titles in the world of drag. And it reflected not only his own headspace, but the dark, sad feelings that became synonymous with a year that ended with the election of U.S. President Trump and all that he stood for. But it doesnt seem to bother the patriotic rapper that his fame is mostly restricted to Canadas borders; this the same man that made a hit single out of a rap song called OhCanada, after all. As for the piece itself, itll ultimately land in Vancouver, next to Westbanks headquarters. Written by Irene Sankoff and David Hein, the musical Come From Away is set in Gander, N.L., in the days following the Sept. 11 attacks, when 38 planes containing nearly 7,000 passengers were forced to land as part of Operation Yellow Ribbon (in which Canada helped ensure air traffic was cleared from U.S. airspace). ), Scott Thompson brings Aprs le Dluge: The Buddy Cole Monologues to Toronto. But two minutes in, you know the man is in trouble. At 51, 16 years after launching her first residency in Las Vegas, Dion bids farewell (for now?) Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds is the genius who convinced Dion to sing the theme song for Deadpool 2. As promised, he inspires the public with a death-defying tightrope walk for charity., The plan: Construct the ultimate talk show anecdote.. They have successfully put their indomitable signature on each and every project. When one actor paraded around bare-assed (boxers pulled up into his butt crack for comedic effect) between takes of Tats big crying scene, she like any great Canadian artist, pre-2010 took her bottled-up biliousness and put it into the work, delivering a performance (real tears!) When drag performers are left to their own devices in a decade-long cultural boom, the only thing that can happen is greatness. By showing something as little as a flick on the forehead, Kims Convenience has helped the rest of the world understand Asian family dynamics better. The film went on to become a box office triumph and, notably, the first comic book movie ever to score a nomination for best picture at the Golden Globes. Or is it reality TV a show about a lonely comedian from Vancouver who happened to go to business school? Like the most beautiful flowers that grow in the darkest of places, the Canadian drag scene in the 2010s has blossomed in ways that I dont think anyone could have ever predicted. To try and predict the nominees and winner of the Polaris Prize is tricky; the award is an ever-changing shape-shifter that takes delight in honouring talent the masses have largely undervalued. In fact, if you live in Winnipeg, you can catch it at the Winnipeg Art Gallery until Feb. 22, 2020. But in a decade of mega-powered blockbusters, Scott Pilgrim was always going to be the misfit. . She is credited for reinventing what was once a late career move into a lucrative and zeigeist-y affair (hello, Britney and Lady Gaga). The Golden Globes were another shining moment for Asian-Canadian pride as Oh won the award for best actress in a TV drama for her portrayal of Eve Polastri on Killing Eve, sweeping the stage in a glitzy white dress with gold sequined sleeves (fully living out a Crazy Rich Asians fantasy that I 100 per cent mega-swooned at). Before the Hulu series premiered (and before this years sequel novel The Testaments was released, for that matter), the Royal Winnipeg Ballet debuted a rendition of The Handmaids Tale that saw the story depicted in a truly unique way. Attention turned to filmmakers like Cape Breton Island, N.S.s Ashley McKenzie, compared to Robert Bresson by The New Yorkers Richard Brody; Toronto writer-director Stella Meghie, who was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award in 2017 for the screenplay for her first feature Jean of the Joneses; filmmaker Joyce Wong, who took over a strip mall in Torontos North York area in Wexford Plaza, a film that could arguably be called the mumblecore answer to Rashomon; dramatic-comedy filmmaker Molly McGlynn, Canadas answer to Nicole Holofcener; hybrid docudrama artist Heather Young, who won the FIPRESCI Prize for her first feature, Murmur, this year; and discursive documentary rock star Sofia Bohdanowicz, whose lovely collaborations with actor/filmmaker Deragh Campbell deserve their own miniature chapbook. Even better (and more relevant to 2019), two years after the records release, Shania announced plans for a 23-date Las Vegas residency, where shell be playing well into 2020. From 2013 to 2017, she embodied over a dozen clones on the sci-fi series "Orphan Black," and won an Emmy for it After all, it took 75 years before the first Asian person hosted the Globes. Other notable filming locations include Chinatown and Gastown. No doubt, Asian-Canadian representation in the 2010s was stellar. When it comes to the top-grossing movies of the decade, theres not much in the way of variety. It won the Royal Architectural Institute of Canadas International Prize in 2019. What can you believe, period? Even though her hosting the awards was a big deal, Oh acknowledged something important about representation: that change is excruciatingly slow. And this preoccupation continued into the 2010s, notably with the 2011 episode Royal Pudding. Clearly parodying the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton, it centres around the wedding of the prince of Canada. During the ceremony, the princes bride is suddenly abducted, leading people all over Canada to kill themselves in despair and Rush to perform their own version of Candle in the Wind.. Shrayas beautiful words are accompanied by Juliana Neufelds illustrations, and the book earned glowing praise from publications lucky enough to review it. The win came on the heels of her 2012 short story collection, Dear Life, and the news was initially met with silence since the Swedish Academy was unable to locate the author and was forced to make its announcement public after leaving her a message on her answering machine. In 2016, she became the first Canadian actor to win a Primetime Emmy Award for a Canadian . Just 26 years old at the time, Halifax-born Page became one of only a handful of folks at his level of celebrity to make the decision to come out publicly as gay. We were too. Their own shows seemed to incorporate Canadian references and plotlines with strange regularity in the 2010s, suggesting a lot of U.S. writers rooms have a bit of a crush on us (or maybe that those writers rooms just have a lot of Canadians working in them). Understandably, it made a mark. (Remember lip dubs?!) Turns out, the then-82-year-old was away staying with her daughter in Victoria at the time of the revelation. Lawren Harriss Mountain Forms sells for a record-breaking $9.5 million, Lawren Harris Mountain Forms (Heffel Fine Art Auction House). After conquering YouTube and the publishing world, Torontos Lilly Singh turned her sights to late-night TV this past September and made her debut with A Little Late with Lilly Singh, NBCs replacement for Last Call with Carson Daly. She earned an Emmy for the role in September. I doubt its a coincidence. Taking place over the course of 30 years, the story follows a young man named Saul Indian Horse who makes his way into the hockey world and, after a series of racist attacks, confronts his traumatizing history. But dont take my word for it. The sharp exterior walls make it an unmistakable landmark, visible from the Don Valley Parkway, and the angles create a sort of sundial effect throughout the day. Sarah Polleys Stories We Tell is released in Canadian cinemas. And to essentially copy/paste the spiel from the opening credits, heres the premise: Nathan Fielder (the shows star and co-creator) graduated from one of Canadas top business schools (University of Victoria) with really good grades (B average). Each annual instalment generated more international bank than the last. I was ready to camp and sleep all night. On the red carpet for the opening of the 2019 exhibition Camp: Notes on Fashion, Dion jokes that she thought this years Met Gala theme had to do withcamping. The song performed best in Furtados homeland, failing to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. There are two ways to divide history: life before Carly Rae Jepsen released Call Me Maybe and life after. The series is packed with moments of human connection that are as unexpected as they are genuine. Its iconic intro (Testing, testing / Im just suggesting) wormed its way into the ears of the country when it was dropped in 2011 as the lead single to the bands third album Ever After. In 2019, the citys tourism department even launched a contest. Alas, a star was born. The Vancouver Winter Olympic Games help kick off a new decade. When architect Fumihiko Maki got the assignment to build North Americas first museum of Islamic art and culture, capturing the concept of light was apparently the brief. Ben Lewis is an actor/writer/director from Toronto, best known for his role on the hit CW series Arrow. This was based on early settlers experiences of bare survival in the face of hostile elements and/or Natives. Though they did exist, Indigenous writers were not considered; we only ever appear in the book as hostile Natives that white Canadians must survive. Kims Convenience has further brought a refreshingly clever and funny perspective to Canadian television by showcasing the experiences of a working-class immigrant family. The shows previews have received rave reviews, and its shaping up to be a Broadway smash. But how could it not? True, the song and Bieber obviously followed the formula that pop music has long been built on (a young star sings about puppy love as a means to launch a brand hell inevitably abandon in a handful of years as he grows up). typically makes headlines for all the wrong reasons. The teen romance starring Amandla Stenberg and Nick Robinson was only Meghies second feature film, but it made Hollywood and the rest of the world sit up and pay attention to this visionary from the north as she broke barriers for Black Canadian female filmmakers. It was born from the relatively new world of YouTube stars (of which Bieber was a pioneer), produced by industry heavyweights The-Dream and Tricky Stewart and performed alongside Ludacris. The project was dreamed up by the Royal Winnipeg Ballets artistic director Andr Lewis and American choreographer Lila York. The song is folk-pop perfection a gorgeous declaration of love with a percussive guitar backtrack and a soaring chorus. She acted opposite Jake Gyllenhaal and Dane DeHaan, and was dubbed The Millennial Meryl Streep. And ultimately, the quality (and quantity) of her work on Orphan Black boosted by the support of critics and Clone Clubbers alike won her an Emmy in 2016, making her the first Canadian actor in a Canadian series ever to win an Emmy in a major dramatic category. In a 2019 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Reeves admitted that he had a schoolboy crush on co-star Sandra Bullock while they were filming the 1994 bus thriller. To say there was hype for Margaret Atwoods followup to The Handmaids Tale is an understatement, particularly since The Testaments set 15 years after its predecessor takes place and published 34 years later returns readers to Gilead, the terrifying place select U.S. politicians seem to be steamrolling us toward. Titled Doh Canada, it finds the Simpson family going to Niagara Falls on vacation, where Lisa accidentally plunges over the Falls and is rescued by a Mountie. And of course, this past year she was the very first Canadian contestant to compete on the ever popular RuPauls Drag Race. Sarah Anne Johnsons Arctic Wonderland opens at New Yorks Julie Saul Projects, Sarah Anne Johnson Arctic Wonderland (Sarah Anne Johnson). Beck + Call, featuring celebrated throat singer Tanya Tagaq, helped cement their staying power on Canadas alternative charts. 1 on the Billboard 200. It was a tiny boy singing about how much he liked someone and how much he hoped they could be together despite knowing it might never be so. Released in 2002, Hands Clean is Alaniss account and calling out of sexual abuse and manipulation by a music industry figure she was working with in her early pop days and the lyrics still resonate. Geoffrey Farmer reimagines Canadas home at the Venice Biennale, Geoffrey Farmer A way out of the mirror (Francesco Barasciutti). So a new day came: Dion would perform every night on the same stage, in the same city, surrounded by dancers, acrobats, video screens and even a scary mime in white face paint. And in this age of trying too hard, billionaire greed, late capitalism and its contribution to environmental crisis, what message could be more important than that? And of course, we were in luck: two more mixtapes followed the same year, which completed a trilogy. Darrel J. McLeods piece Maci Manitowi (Devils) was a precursor to his Governor Generals Literary Award-winning book Mamaskatch. Traditionally, mainstream drag has always focused on passability, meaning to pass realistically as the opposite of your assigned or expressed daily gender. Upon seeing Barry Jenkinss emotional adaptation of James Baldwins 1974 novel If Beale Street Could Talk, a universal truth was known: Stephan James was a gift to cinema as we knew it. B.C. This coincided with Indigenous artists dominating both literature and visual art awards: the Sobey Art Award has been awarded to three Indigenous artists since 2013, and the Griffin Poetry Prize had three consecutive Indigenous winners from 2016 to 2018. But the other treasure these residencies offer is entry into a new community, insight into another place or into the state of our environment. But this album their leap into top 40 was proudly and publicly inspired by Taylor Swift (the genre-crossover queen who theyd perform with later the same year) and Rihanna, and their debut single, Closer, earned platinum status in Canada for the first time in their career. It sounded like butterflies, the first time holding hands, and quiet but bold albeit still very harmless emotive declarations. I was immediately taken back to moments when I was a child and my parents probably wanted to flick me on the head for doing something trivial in public (Asian kid problems). Tanya Tagaq, Inner Ninja by Classified feat. We featured Zadie Xa this past year at CBC Arts, and she sums up one of my favourite things about being part of this team: we get to talk about artists who celebrate their cultural heritage and their Canadian identity, and then watch as they take it all over the world. The Canada-obsessed police comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine premieres. If it was before June 15 the day Drizzys debut album dropped congratulations, you (for many reasons, I imagine) are better than me and most people. Although his appearance was limited to just a few scenes where he plays himself, Reeves stole the show for many on social media. Expect to see a lot more of her in the 2020s. A dance-theatre hybrid, Betroffenheit is an unlikely achievement a strikingly original show about loss that became a global sensation. So, if youre a Ms. Hes convinced hell reach a happy ending, erasing a lifetime of misery. Of course, being the obedient little 20-year-olds we were, not only did we do it, we head-butted each other on the first take and then profusely apologized. ), Because the world wasnt horrible enough in 2017, It came back. The reality is that, despite the success of Indigenous artists prior to 2015, there wasnt a national push to both recognize and, more importantly, fund Indigenous artists until the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) released its final report in December of that year. The TRCs final report titled Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future marked not only the birth of reconciliation as a political catchphrase, but also a cultural shift in how Indigenous art and artists were perceived and engaged with. Whether the water monster/fish-man cares about any of this remains a mystery. Nope. For the Season 3 finale, NFY takes that swindle to the extreme, with Nathan orchestrating a high-wire spectacle. (Book Club, anyone?) Its hard to be a filmmaker. (It does not go over well). What do we tell him? What is more heartening is their relatively recent acknowledgment of the role Indigenous art has played and continues to play in historical and contemporary culture. (Terrific!) My hope for 2020 is that artists continue to pay homage, show pride and subvert borders to assert their identity and their history.