John Greyson’s Lilies, winner of best Canadian film honors at this year’s Montreal World Film Festival, has racked up 14 nominations (including best motion picture and nine craft categories) to place itself at the head of the ‘most nominated’ list for the 17th Annual Genie Awards, and Robert Lepage – whose feature debut Le Confessionnal picked up best picture last year – sees his Le Polygraphe garner nine nods this year.

David Cronenberg’s Crash and David Wellington’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night tie with seven nominations apiece, and Bruce McDonald’s just-released Hard Core Logo has six.

Rounding out the list of nominated features are Anna Benson Gyles’ Swann (5), John Fawcett’s The Boy’s Club (5), Kelly Makin’s Kids In The Hall Brain Candy (4), Christian Duguay’s Screamers (3), Holly Dale’s Blood & Donuts (3), Masato Harada’s Rowing Through (2), Giles Walker’s Never Too Late (2), John L’Ecuyer’s Curtis’s Charm (2), Pierre Gang’s Sous-sol (2), Gilles Carle’s Pudding Chomeur (2), Laurie Lynd’s House (2), Peter Wellington’s Joe’s So Mean To Josephine (1), Sylvie Groulx’s J’aime J’aime pas (1), Jean Beaudry’s Le Cri de la Nuit (1) and Gilles Noel’s Erreur Sur La Personne (1).

Lepage also picked up the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television’s Claude Jutra Award last year, given to recognize talented new filmmakers and their first feature. The eligibility list for this year’s award includes Joan Carr-Wiggin (Honeymoon), Dale (Blood & Donuts), Fawcett (The Boy’s Club), Gang (Sous-sol), Groulx (J’aime J’aime Pas), L’Ecuyer (Curtis’s Charm), Noel (Erreur Sur La Personne), Bruce Sweeney (Live Bait), and Wellington (Joe’s So Mean to Josephine).

All tabulated, from 50 entries, 20 Canadian features are in the running for statues, along with nine docs and short films.

The show is back in Toronto this year, with a shorter, one-hour broadcast on cbc Wednesday, Nov. 27. In a move designed to make the event ‘funkier’ and more reflective of the film community, the Academy is hosting the event at The Guverment, a large Toronto nightclub.

The jurors, who gathered in Toronto Sept. 18-22 to select their favorites, were a smaller group this year. Academy cost-cutting dictated whittling the group down to 90, says acct executive director Maria Topalovich.

While the commercial nature of some of the nominees (including features like Crash, Hard Core Logo and Kids In The Hall Brain Candy) may help heighten the profile of this year’s awards, the Academy will be promoting its own show with a sneak preview trailer screening in over 90% of Canadian theaters from coast to coast starting Nov. 1. Taking its lead from last year’s trailer, the preview highlights Canadian film professionals who’ve helped put Canadian filmmaking on the map.