‘In this corner, in the grey pompadour, his soft-spoken manner only hiding the grotesque machinations in his mind, the Baron of Blood – Dave ‘Deprave’ Cronenberg! And in this corner, in the spectacles – you’ll never see him do a romantic comedy – Canada’s Denizen of Downbeat – Atom ‘the Armenian Hammer’ Egoyan!’

This could have been the stage set for the 23rd annual Genie Awards. A rematch of these two heavyweights of Canuck cinema – Cronenberg with nine Genie wins under his belt, plus six additional noms, Egoyan with six wins plus 13 noms – would have made compelling sport for those who follow our domestic film biz. The last time these two titans clashed – even though they both downplay any rivalry – was on their shared home turf, at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

Egoyan took the early lead, landing Ararat in the primo Opening Night Gala slot, but Cronenberg was declared winner by decision – the decision of the TIFF jury, which gave his feature Spider the Toronto-City Award for best Canadian feature film. But Ararat, released by Alliance Atlantis in major markets last month, has its champions, so it would have been fascinating to see how the Genie jury would have handled the dilemma of choosing between its two favorite filmmaking sons.

Well, as it turns out, it won’t have to make that call after all.

While Ararat has been nominated for best motion picture, Spider has surprisingly been left out. That Spider’s world-class cast, including Ralph Fiennes (a 1999 nominee for Sunshine), Miranda Richardson and Gabriel Byrne would not even be nominated, nor would Peter Suschitzky, Cronenberg’s longtime cinematographer, a three-time Genie winner who lensed The Empire Strikes Back, is also unexpected.

Cronenberg’s psychological drama otherwise fared well, grabbing six noms, including achievement in direction and best adapted screenplay for Patrick McGrath.

Ararat, Egoyan’s personal film about the modern-day fallout of the 1915 Armenian Genocide, leads all films with nine nominations, although Egoyan has curiously been left off the directors’ short list. If award shows moved as one entity, as opposed to being the tabulation of many different points of view, one might say the path has been cleared for both Egoyan (nominated for original screenplay) and Cronenberg to get their respective moments on the victor’s podium without canceling each other out.

Of course, maybe neither will win.

Competing against Ararat for best picture, with six noms in all, is Suddenly Naked, director Anne Wheeler’s romantic comedy about a jaded 40ish female novelist (Wendy Crewson) who embarks on an affair with a much younger man (Joe Cobden). The film’s showing is somewhat of a surprise. Although Wheeler is no stranger to the Genies, with two awards plus six noms to her credit, reviews for Suddenly Naked were lukewarm.

Bollywood/Hollywood, director Deepa Mehta’s homage to fluffy Indian musicals and Hollywood romantic comedies, is also nominated for best picture. The film has struck a chord with Genie jurors and audiences alike, recently surpassing $1.2 million at the Canadian box office for distributor Mongrel Media. Mehta is up for original screenplay, and the film also received noms for supporting actor Ranjit Chowdhry and supporting actresses Moushumi Chaterjee and Dina Pathak, who recently passed away after a career that spanned back to India in the 1940s.

Pope Productions’ Rare Birds, distributed by Lions Gate Films, also clocked in with five noms, including best picture. The comedy, starring Oscar winner William Hurt and Canada’s Molly Parker, concerns a wacky Newfoundlander who claims to have sighted a rare duck in the hopes of luring traffic to his neighbor’s struggling restaurant. Rare Birds director Sturla Gunnarsson has to be considered a legitimate contender in the director category, having won the DGC Award in October, although then he did not have to compete with the likes of Cronenberg.

The low-budget surprise among this year’s best picture finalists is the French-language Quebec-Montreal, a frank romantic comedy from Montreal’s Go Films and distributor Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm. The film depicts the interrelations among a group of ‘almost thirtysomethings’ amid the Godardian backdrop of the Highway 20 traffic between Quebec’s two major cities. The film has also been a box-office sleeper, netting close to $900,000 so far in la belle province. Helming newcomer Ricardo Trogi is up for direction and shares an original screenplay nom with Jean-Philippe Pearson and Patrice Robitaille. Editor Yvann Thibaudeau is also nominated.

Savage Messiah also enjoys a surprisingly good showing. Director Mario Azzopardi’s portrait of real-life cult leader Roch Theriault, coproduced by Muse Entertainment and distributed by Christal Films, is second only to Ararat with seven noms, including best actor for Luc Picard and best actress for Polly Walker. It was originally commissioned as a Showcase Original TV movie but impressed exhibitors enough to win a theatrical release. That proved a good move, as the $4.2-million film has grossed more than $1.2 million on Quebec screens, mostly in a dubbed French version.

Between Strangers, a drama about the secrets of three very different women who live in one Toronto neighborhood, got the nod in five categories, including best actress for Deborah Kara Unger. The Italy/Canada copro is directed by Edoardo Ponti and boasts an impressive international cast headed by his mother, Sophia Loren. It is distributed domestically by Equinox Films.

A past problem for the awards show has been that the public had in large part not seen the nominated films, many of which had not even had a prior proper release. That situation was addressed last year when the short-listed films were screened in Toronto in advance of the awards. This year, with support from founding sponsor Warner Bros. and partner Famous Players, the Genie Screenings have expanded to include Vancouver, Montreal and Ottawa. The runs will be promoted in a theatrical trailer produced by The Movie Network. Details are available at the Genie website.

The Genie Awards are slated for Feb. 13 at the John Bassett Theatre at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. CBC will be broadcasting the program, which will also have pre-show coverage on Star TV and a post-show wrap-up on Radio-Canada.

-www.genieawards.ca