Comeback of the year

Not that Canada’s Master of the Macabre was ever down-and-out. But it’s been three years since his last feature, eXistenZ, and his latest, Spider, receiving standing ovations at Cannes and winning for best Canadian feature at the Toronto International Film Festival, is poised to be a watershed in the director’s career. The Canada/U.K. drama copro, starring Ralph Fiennes as an emotionally damaged man sorting through his past, will be distributed domestically by Odeon Films.

Feature Export of the Year

Atanarjuat – The Fast Runner, from Igloolik Isuma Productions and the National Film Board, is still playing on U.S. and Canadian screens after 23 weeks in the top 60 North American films. The film’s total box office, including North America and other international markets (primarily France) is US$6.2 million, making it the highest grossing Canadian film internationally in 2002. It also recently opened in Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Denmark, and the Czech Republic. The film won six 2002 Genie Awards, including best motion picture.

Cover Pic of the Year

This ghoulish shot, which adorned the Aug. 5 cover of Playback, shows actors Andrew Miller (centre) and David Hewlett (right) holding each other’s synthetic heads up to director Vincenzo Natali on the Toronto set of the sci-fi feature Nothing, produced by 49th Parallel Films.