Tag Archives: Forgive Me

Forgive Me

Award-winning Canadian drama, Forgive Me, from writer and director Thom Fitzgerald, returns to Super Channel for a third season

From a media release:

Super Channel is pleased to announce that the award-winning original Canadian drama series, Forgive Me, from writer and director Thom Fitzgerald, will return for a third season. The Super Channel original series, which was filmed earlier this year in Halifax, will premiere on Monday, October 29 at 9 p.m. ET (SC Fuse).

Each half-hour episode of the eight-part third season will also be available to viewers on Super Channel On Demand the day following its linear broadcast. Viewers can also catch up with seasons one and two, currently available on Demand.

Forgive Me is an emotionally powerful dramatic series that breaks the seal of the Catholic confessional. Previous seasons of the series have received an impressive nine ACTRA Award nominations, including two wins for Vancouver-based rising star, Mike McLeod, as Outstanding Male Actor in a Leading Role in a Drama Series. McLeod reprises his starring role as the Priest in season three. Forgive Me has also been nominated for six Canadian Screen Awards, including one win for Edward Asner – Best Performance in a Guest Role – Dramatic Series, for his portrayal of the Bishop.

Seven-time Emmy® Award winner Asner returns this season as a series regular following the death of beloved Halifax native John Dunsworth (Trailer Park Boys) late last year. The Gemini and ACTRA Award-winning Dunsworth starred as the Prelate in all episodes of seasons one and two of Forgive Me. ACTRA Award nominee and Gemini winner Hugh Thompson (Blessed Stranger: After Flight 111) also returns in season three as Smith, with Oscar® and Golden Globe® nominated actor Bruce Davison (X-Men, Longtime Companion), also joining the cast as the Archbishop.

Other returning cast includes Jeremy Akerman (Hobo with a Shotgun) as Father Gene, Ryan Doucette (Cloudburst) as Sebastien and Lauren Liem (Sex & Violence) as Noelle.

In season three, the Priest must deal with the aftermath of assisting Smith with filing a lawsuit against the Church, while also continuing to carry the burden of keeping his illegitimate daughter a secret from the Bishop. In the confessional this season, the Priest hears confessions from a mother (Karen Robinson) whose faith is torn by the legalization of cannabis, a trophy wife (Rebecca Jenkins) who confesses to prostitution and a hotel maid (Jennifer Podemski) who confesses to snooping through guest’s personal items.

Forgive Me is produced by Doug Pettigrew and Thom Fitzgerald of Halifax based Emotion Pictures, in association with Super Channel, with the participation of the Canada Media Fund.

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Awards

22 Minutes and Mr. D top Screen Nova Scotia award winners

From a media release:

Screen Nova Scotia hosted its third annual awards show on Thursday, May 4th,  in front of a sold-out crowd at Casino Nova Scotia. Featuring the ACTRA Awards for Outstanding Performances, the Digital Animators of Nova Scotia Award, the Film Crew Excellence Award, and the Screen Nova Scotia Awards for film, television and animation, the event was a celebration of the talent, creativity and passion that are trademarks of the screen-based community in Nova Scotia.

The evening was hosted by the legendary comedy duo, Bette MacDonald and Maynard Morrison, with accompaniment from the Bill Stevenson Trio. Presenters included producers, directors, crew members and actors, with a special appearance by Weirdos’ Andy Warhol (Rhys Bevan-John).

The night’s finale was the Screen Nova Scotia Award for Best Feature Film, which was awarded to the indie drama Werewolf, the debut feature film from acclaimed Cape Breton writer/director Ashely McKenzie and her producing partner, Nelson MacDonald.

For the third year in a row, Mike McLeod won Best Actor in a Leading Role for the role of the priest in the series Forgive Me. Director Thom Fitzgerald accepted the award on McLeod’s behalf. First-time nominee Molly Dunsworth took home the Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her work in the short film Ingrid and the Black Hole.

Bette MacDonald also picked up the ACTRA Award for Outstanding Female Actor in a Leading Role for her role as Trudy Walsh, the outspoken school secretary on Mr.D.

Fish, from filmmaker Heather Young, won the award for Best Sort Film. Fish screened at the Berlinale as part of Telefilm Canada’s Not Short on Talent program and was recently selected to screen in TIFF Canada’s Top Ten Film Festival.

Digital animation was spotlighted at the awards, with Tim Tracey winning the DANS Award for Outstanding Animation for his short film DataMine and Copernicus Studios taking home the trophy for Best Animated Series for their Disney XD show Pickle & Peanut.

Editor Sarah Bryne won the 2017 Film Crew Excellence Award. Sarah’s recent credits include Play Your Gender, Trailer Park Boys and Your Money or Your Wife. Sarah also works extensively with the Atlantic Filmmakers Cooperative and on countless short films for emerging filmmakers.

The full list of award winners:

Best Feature Film: Werewolf (Grassfire Films)

Best Television Series: This Hour Has 22 Minutes (DHX Media)

Best Documentary Film: Quebec My Country Mon Pays (John Walker Productions)

Best Short Film: Fish (Heather Young)

DANS Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Animation: DataMine (Tim Tracey Animation)

Outstanding Female Actor in a Leading Role: Bette MacDonald in Mr. D

Outstanding Male Actor in a Leading Role: Mike McLeod in Forgive Me: Confessions

Outstanding Female Actor in a Supporting Role: Molly Dunsworth in Ingrid and the Black Hole

Outstanding Male Actor in a Supporting Role: Nathan D. Simmons in Hustle & Heart

Film Crew Excellence Award: Sarah Byrne, Editor

Community Recognition Award: Dave Myatt & the Atlantic School of Theology

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Awards, Industry News

Screen Nova Scotia announce award winners

From a media release:

Screen Nova Scotia hosted its second annual awards show on Saturday, May 7,  in front of a sold-out crowd at Casio Nova Scotia. Featuring the ACTRA Awards for Outstanding Performances, the Screen Nova Scotia Awards, the Digital Animators of Nova Scotia Award, and the Film Crew Excellence Award, the event was a celebration of the talent, determination, and passion that are trademarks of the screen-based community in Nova Scotia.

After opening the evening with a live performance, Studio Black! won the award for Best Television Series. The CBC miniseries from Lunenburg-based production company Picture Plant Limited tells African-Nova Scotian folk tales in a style the mixes theatre and studio television.

Local actor/director Cory Bowles hosted the night, and also joined the Studio Black! team on stage to accept their Screen Nova Scotia award, as one of the directors of the series.

North Mountain, a First Nations LGBT thriller, won the Screen Nova Scotia Award for Best Feature Film. It’s the first feature film from writer/director Bretten Hannam.

The theme of the evening was ‘family’ – a gathering of those who built the industry over the past 20 years – with multigenerational presenters taking to the stage to present awards throughout the evening.

Three-time nominee Jackie Torrens took home the ACTRA trophy for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her work on the feature film Across the Line. Mike Mcleod won his second ACTRA award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for the role of the priest in the television series Forgive Me. Director Thom Fitzgerald accepted the award on McLeod’s behalf, as the actor moved to B.C. for work following the elimination of the tax credit last year.

Costumer Deanna Anthony, won the Film Crew Excellence Award, posthumously. An industry veteran, Deanna most recently worked on This Hour Has 22 Minutes and The Lizzie Borden Chronicles, before passing away from cancer at the age of 52.

The full list of award winners:

Best Television Series: Studio Black! (Picture Plant Ltd.)
Best Documentary Film: Fanarchy (Ruby Tree Films)
Best Short Film: Bound (Daniel Boos)
Best Feature Film: North Mountain (Mazeking Pictures & Kingsberg Studios)
Best Scene in an Animated Production: Bit By Bit / Animated by Jeff Roach (Huminah Animation)

Outstanding Female Actor in a Leading Role: Jennie Raymond, Sex & Violence
Outstanding Male Actor in a Leading Role: Mike Mcleod, Forgive Me
Outstanding Female Actor in a Supporting Role: Jackie Torrens, Across The Line
Outstanding Male Actor in a Supporting Role: Simon Paul  Mutuyimana, Across The Line

Film Crew Excellence Award: Deanna Anthony, Costumer

(image courtesy of Michael Tompkins)

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Dramas and Comedies, Featured, Forgive Me

Super Channel’s quiet, effective Forgive Me returns

Amid Super Channel’s pirates of Black Sails, aliens of Falling Skies and spies of Homeland there is Forgive Me. Written and directed by Thom Fitzgerald (The Hanging Garden), Forgive Me is quiet and spare. There’s no swashbuckling and no armed troops, but plenty to like.

Back for Season 2 on Sunday, Forgive Me stars Mike McLeod as The Priest, a young man who listens to the daily confessions of his Halifax congregation. The brain tumour that had been operated on hasn’t gone away (and may be causing angelic visions), but The Priest insists he go back to work, telling his doctor (Fitzgerald) perhaps it’s God’s way. After convincing fellow priests in the Prelate (John Dunsworth) and Father Gene (Jeremy Ackerman) he’s fine, The Priest heads back to confessional; and that’s where Forgive Me truly shines.

Rolling out like a two-person play, the camera is in the tight confines of the confessional as—lit by the muted light coming through plain stained glass—The Priest hears the confession of pedophile Johnny Smith-O’Leary (Hugh Thompson), who is considering suing the church because he was molested by a choir master there when he was young. There are funny moments amid the conversation. Johnny asks The Priest what circle of hell his group of sinners is confined to and learns Dante’s Inferno is a play, and not scripture.

“How the hell is that not in the Bible?” he wonders. “Do you have any idea how many hours of my life that I wasted finding out exactly what circle of hell I’m going to?!”

“Johnny,” The Priest counters. “I watched all seven seasons of Dawson’s Creek.”

“You win,” Johnny allows.

McLeod turns in a fine performance; he’s instantly likeable in the role, more coach and therapist than priest, as is Dunsworth, far removed from drunken Jim Lahey on Trailer Park Boys. Fitzgerald has attracted high-profile talent to appear, with Olympia Dukakis reprising her role as Novalea, The Priest’s grandmother and Season 2 guest stars in Wendy Crewson and Ed Asner.

If you’re looking for something a little different from your Canadian TV, give Forgive Me a look and let me know what you think of it.

Forgive Me airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on Super Channel.

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