Despite the omissions of favored local boys Jim Carrey (Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon) and Norman Jewison (director of The Hurricane), Oscar is usually not one to forget his friends north of the border. This year, Oscar and his cronies at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences honored Canadians with four nominations for the 72nd Annual Academy Awards.

The National Film Board, always an Oscar favorite (having received 10 statues to date), garnered two nominations in the short film – animation category. When the Day Breaks, already a Genie winner and recipient of the Palme d’Or at Cannes in the short film category, was produced by the nfb and codirected by Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis. The second nomination in the category for the nfb is My Grandmother Ironed the King’s Shirts, from director Torill Kove. The short is a coproduction between the nfb and Norway’s Studio Magika.

Also nominated in the short film – animation category is The Old Man and the Sea, from Montreal’s Productions Pascal Blais. Alexander Petrov directed.

The final Canadian nomination was had by The Red Violin, nominated for best original score under the direction of composer John Corigliano. Corigliano was nominated in the same category in 1980 for the film Altered States.

The Academy Awards ceremony takes place March 26 in l.a.