The noblesse of Canada’s cinematographers gathered in Toronto April 29 for the Canadian Society of Cinematographers 38th annual awards. A host of presenters, including Pamela Wallin and Keith Morrison, handed out 16 awards at the packed gala, which drew a record crowd of about 280.

‘We’re growing more and more every year,’ says csc president and award-winner Joan Hutton. ‘The film business is heating up more, so people keep active and have more money to join the csc.’

At the top of the list of winners was Paul Sarossy with two awards. He was honored for his work on Atom Egoyan’s Exotica and received the Best Unique Cinematography award for the Rhombus tv movie Satie & Suzanne.

Hutton garnered the Best Documentary Cinematography award for Ms. Conceptions, Alar Kivilo won top honors in the tv drama category for Choices of the Heart: The Margaret Sanger Story, Bert Tougas walked off with the prize in tv series cinematography for the Street Legal episode ‘Fair is Foul,’ and Stanley Mestel won for the short film The Paris Crew.

Barry Stone picked up the Best Industrial Cinematography award (Legacy Jones), David Herrington won for Best Commercial Cinematography (Frigidaire, ‘Yes I am a Chef’), Dan Laffey received the award for Outstanding Cinematography in tv news (Flying Squirrels), and Chris Gargus won the Stan Clinton News Essay Award for Tall Ships.

Laszlo George garnered the Kodak New Century lifetime achievement award, Dr. Wally Gentleman won the Fuji Award for extraordinary contribution to the csc, and Glen Ferrier was honored for outstanding contribution to the development of the industry with the Bill Hilson Award.

Three student awards were also presented at the gala. They went to David Greene (Pipe Dreams), Mark Kueper (Flesh) and Jason Tan (The Eye Cage).

The 400-member association is in the early stages of investigating setting up chapters in Vancouver and Montreal. It would be a first for Vancouver; Montreal has not had a chapter since the 1960s.