Screen Nova Scotia honours local talent at 11th annual awards gala

A still shot from the television series, "The Trades" shows cast members (right to left) Dan Petronijevic, Susan Kent and Robb Wells. (Courtesy: Screen Nova Scotia)

Screen Nova Scotia hosted its 11th annual awards gala Saturday. A sold-out crowd of more than 600 industry professionals attended the event at the Halifax Convention Centre.

The biggest prize of the evening – the Screen Nova Scotia Award for Best Feature Film – went to “Sharp Corner,” directed by Jason Buxton, the Halifax director who touched Hollywood this year with a thriller that stars Ben Foster and Cobie Smulders. The movie follows Josh (Foster), “a troubled man increasingly consumed by the fatal car crashes in front of his house.”

“Sharp Corner” was produced by Marc Tetreault and Jason Levangie of Halifax and Paul Barkin of Alcina Pictures in Toronto.

The first season of “The Trades,” an original comedy series on Crave, took the Best Scripted Television Series Award. The cast was also honoured with the ACTRA Maritimes Award for Series Ensemble and Gil Anderson won an ACTRA Maritimes Award for Outstanding Performances. The series follows the lives of refinery employees and stars Trailer Park Boys alumnus Robb Wells.

“Great White North” won the Best Documentary Award. The movie was filmed off Lunenburg, N.S., and examines the explosion of shark sightings of the east coast of Canada.

The complete list of 2025 Screen Nova Scotia Award winners includes:

• Best Feature Film: Sharp Corner - Shut Up & Colour Pictures, Alcina Pictures & Workhorse Pictures; directed by Jason Buxton
• Best Documentary Film: Great White North - Tell Tale Productions
• Best Short Film: Paper - Charles Wahl
• Best TV Series – Scripted: The Trades - The Trades Productions Inc.
• Best TV Series – Unscripted: Les quatre coins de l’assiette, Season 3 - Connexions Productions
• Best Animated Production: Bloody Mess - Megan Wennberg
• Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography: Kevin Fraser
• ACTRA Maritimes Awards Outstanding Performances: Donovan Colan - The Dogs, Gil Anderson - The Trades, Nicole Steeves – Lakeview, Reid Price - Sullivan’s Crossing, Season 2
• Series Ensemble: The Trades - Robb Wells, Susan Kent, and Jason Daley
• Women in Film & Television - Atlantic Award Best Nova Scotia Director: Pamela Gallant - Monica’s News
• Other Groundbreaking Performance: Akshay Shirke - Normal Scotia
• Film Crew Excellence: Tom Anthes - Set Designer
• Community Recognition: Sobaz Benjamin - Founder & Executive Director, In My Own Voice (iMOVe) Arts Association

“Congratulations to all the 2025 nominees and award winners,” said Laura Mackenzie, Executive Director of Screen Nova Scotia in a news release. “Tonight, we celebrate our industry and all those who contributed to bringing authentic and compelling Nova Scotian stories to life.”

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page