Andrew Cividino | |
---|---|
Born | |
Occupation | Filmmaker |
Years active | 2007–present |
Known for | Sleeping Giant, Schitt's Creek |
Andrew Cividino (born 1983) is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. [1] He is best known for his feature film directorial debut Sleeping Giant, which premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival, [1] and for his frequent work as a director on the Emmy winning comedy Schitt's Creek, for which he won a Primetime Emmy at the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards. [2]
He is a partner with Karen Harnisch in the production company Film Forge. [3]
Originally from Dundas, Ontario, [4] Cividino frequently spent childhood summers in the Sibley Peninsula region near Thunder Bay. [5]
After studying film at Ryerson University, Cividino made several short films, including Norbert (2007), We Ate the Children Last (2011) and Yellow Fish (2012). [1] [6] In 2006, he won the Ontario Film Review Board's student film competition. [7]
In 2011, Telefilm included him on its annual Talent to Watch panel, and his short We Ate the Children Last made TIFF's Top 10 Shorts list. [7]
When all of the funding fell through for his feature film directorial debut, Sleeping Giant, Cividino proceeded with a pared down short film version, which was released in 2014. [1] The short went on to win an award at the Locarno International Film Festival, [1] and received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Drama at the 3rd Canadian Screen Awards, in turn enabling Cividino to secure new funding. [8]
The feature version of Sleeping Giant premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2015. [1] It later screened at the Munich Film Festival, where it won the CineVision Award for Best Film By An Emerging Director, and at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, [9] where it won the award for Best Canadian First Feature Film. [10] At the 2015 Vancouver International Film Festival, Sleeping Giant won the juried Best Canadian Film Award. [11]
At the 4th Canadian Screen Awards in 2016, Cividino was a nominee for Best Director for Sleeping Giant, which also garnered three other nominations including Best Picture, though it did not win; Cividino lost the Best Director award to Lenny Abrahamson for Room. [12]
In 2017 Cividino directed an episode of Schitt's Creek titled "Merry Christmas, Johnny Rose", alongside co-director Dan Levy. The following year he co-directed the season finale "Life is a Cabaret" with Levy. In the show's final season, Cividino directed seven episodes of the show, [13] including the series finale "Happy Ending", which he co-directed with Levy, and for which they won a Primetime Emmy. The show received a total of 15 Emmy nominations in its final season, including for Outstanding Comedy Series. [14]
In 2016, the Toronto International Film Festival announced they had selected Cividino as their annual Len Blum resident, where he will develop his short film We Ate the Children Last into a feature film. [15]
Cividino has since participated in Berlinale Talents and was selected as one of eleven filmmakers to participate in the prestigious Sundance Institute's FilmTwo Program. [16] He is a recurring director on Schitt's Creek, and was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Direction in a Comedy Series for the Christmas special "Merry Christmas, Johnny Rose" alongside co-director Dan Levy. [17]
In July 2020, Cividino and co-director Dan Levy were nominated for achievement in direction at the 72nd Primetime Emmy Awards, and won at the ceremony that took place on September 20, 2020. [14]