Maria Topalovich, president of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, believes her organization’s traditional rallying point, its awards shows, are doing a fine job, thank you, but that’s not to say they can’t be made better.

This year, the Gemini Awards are set to introduce a reality series category to reflect the genre’s proliferation on Canadian TV, as elsewhere. A move is also afoot to resurrect Genie Award categories for foreign actors and actresses in Canadian feature films. The move comes after filmmaker David Cronenberg slammed the nomination process following the Genie snub of his British Spider cast, including Ralph Fiennes, Miranda Richardson, Gabriel Byrne and Lynn Redgrave.

But Topalovich is heartened by the fact that, despite this type of criticism, the association’s membership continues to grow in face of the industry’s current doldrums.

‘You have to join unions and guilds to work in this business,’ she adds. ‘You [are not required] to join the Academy.’

Unlike other associations charged with lobbying industry and government officials to promote their narrow political and corporate agendas, the Academy is an umbrella body expected to stand for the industry in a way no other group can.

‘The industry is looking for an association that unifies it, that recognizes excellence and promotes that excellence to the public,’ Topalovich says of the Academy’s mandate.

What’s more, the Academy must work hand-in-hand with the film and TV industry, securing from it operating funds and free airtime to promote the Gemini and Genie Awards while recruiting participants for its year-round industry programs.

After all, you wouldn’t expect CBS and NBC to promote ABC’s Academy Awards telecast, but collegial Canadian broadcasters do get behind the CBC’s telecast of the Genies and Geminis for the overall betterment of Canadian film and TV.

‘[Broadcasters] support us at every level, from buying tickets to events, to promoting the event, to becoming sponsors,’ Topalovich observes.

Success in speaking for an industry made up of competing camps did not come overnight.

‘It’s not standard practice for competitors to support one another or something that will not guarantee something for them [in return],’ Topalovich says. ‘It took a number of years to help encourage that. Certainly the will was there, but there wasn’t a way.’

More information on the Academy’s initiatives can be found on its website.

-www.academy.ca