Vancouver: For Canada’s Genie Awards, like any subjective contest, picking the best of the year’s films is a controversial act. But the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television that runs the awards gala remains adamantly apolitical.

‘The Academy creates the framework for peers to make selections,’ says president and CEO Maria Topalovich. ‘It’s been the same for 22 years.’

Yes, but the framework has been profoundly reworked to reflect industry changes: the elimination of the foreign actors category, the introduction of peer voting in the 1980s and the inclusion of minority coproductions in the late 1990s, for instance.

Eligible films are those that have had a gala screening at a major festival or those with commercial runs for two to three weeks, depending on whether they play primary markets like Vancouver or secondary markets like Halifax.

That explains why best picture nominee Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner) qualifies even though it hasn’t opened commercially in Canada and won’t until February when, as distributors hope, the Genies hype sells a few more tickets.

A film is Canadian if CAVCO or the CRTC says so. This issue is more fraught, of course, with the inclusion of minority coproductions like the Genie-winning Sunshine, which filled the nominee list with non-Canadians in 1999.

‘Suddenly, rules that no one paid too much attention to for years became very hot,’ says Paul Gratton, vice-chair of the cinema division at the Academy and station manager at Bravo! and Space: The Imagination Station. ‘You can’t exclude minority coproductions because then you exclude some of Canada’s finest cinema.’

The new rules in place since last year state minority coproductions are eligible for best picture and the craft categories in which Canadians contributed. ‘Where, however, the director is Canadian,’ the rules state, ‘the minority coproduction will be deemed a majority Canadian coproduction for the purposes of eligibility in all categories.’

That means Sunshine would no longer qualify for anything but best picture and a few craft categories. On the other hand, 1999’s Felicia’s Journey, an 80-20 coproduction with the U.K. as the major partner, would qualify for any category, irrespective of the nominees’ nationalities, because the film was directed by Atom Egoyan. It was his vision, therefore it’s his movie and therefore it’s Canadian.

In the past, French-Canadian films with their strong audience base have arguably had a proportionally higher representation at the Genies, but this year’s crop of nominees is much more geographically diverse. The Inuit film Atanarjuat and Alberta feature The War Bride have seven nods each, while B.C. film Last Wedding ranks third with six.

There are, however, more ACCT voters in Eastern Canada than there are in the West.

As for relevancy, the Genie Awards do what they are supposed to do. ‘Fundamentally, our role is to recognize the best in Canadian film,’ says Topalovich. ‘After that, we work to raise awareness and appreciation.’

But the Genies are not an important part of a film’s calendar year from a business perspective, says Mark Slone, VP of marketing and publicity at Odeon Films, and only really help films that, because of their release dates, are still in the theatres.

‘A small portion of the marketing budget for a film goes toward the Genies [bid],’ says Slone. ‘The rest of the budget is spent trying to get people to the theatres. [The Genies] are more like ‘kudos.’ They are more useful for television and video [distribution].’

The important reason to participate in the Genies, says Slone, is to foster a strong industry, with the ultimate goal of developing a Canadian star system

There are exceptions, he says. The Red Violin, an Odeon release, won prestige and a box office boost from its Genie success in 1998. This year, The War Bride is among the nominees still in theatres.

Gratton says big Genie nominees do stimulate ‘booking activity’ with Canadian exhibitors.

‘Today, there is no lack of screens,’ he says. ‘The first sign that there is some business there, the screens open up. [Exhibitors] are mindless, reactive machines.’

The Academy is not alone in the challenge of promoting national cinema, adds Gratton. ‘It’s difficult for all national cinema – not just Canadian cinema – that falls outside the mainstream of U.S. majors,’ he says.

The Academy is hosting for the first time a mini-festival of best picture nominees. The one-night screenings in January at the Bloor Cinema in Toronto should expand nationally next year.

Other initiatives in the Academy’s six-week promotional campaign include the return of the slick promotional trailer of Genie nominees that will appear on 1,800 screens, made possible this year by The Movie Network’s sponsorship.

The Genies air on CBC Feb. 7.

-www.academy.ca