Followers of Canadian film scratched their heads when this year’s Genie Award nominees for best actress were announced and Annette Bening’s name was not heard, despite the fact that her film Being Julia is up for best motion picture. At the root of this seeming contradiction is a complicated rule drawn up by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, which runs the awards.

The end result is that there is no hope Bening will be on hand to generate the same star-gazing enthusiasm on the Genies’ red carpet that she and hubby Warren Beatty did when Being Julia opened the Toronto International Film Festival last September. No doubt, many expected Bening to get a nod on the heels of her Oscar nom and prizes from the Golden Globes and the National Board of Review.

But the fact is that Bening did not qualify for the prize, partially because she is not Canadian. Meanwhile, American indie queen Jennifer Jason Leigh managed to snag a best supporting actress nom for her turn in Childstar and Sir Ian McKellen was tapped for best actor for Emile.

To understand why certain foreign leads in Canadian movies get a ticket to the Genies while Bening was automatically excluded, one must grasp the sometimes-cloudy distinction between minority and majority Canadian coproductions.

Flawed compromise

A three-year-old Genie regulation that aims to recognize that Canadian movies are more frequently being financed as international copros in effect discriminates against foreign actors in Canadian copros shot by foreign directors. In other words, because Being Julia is a minority Canadian copro (made with British and Hungarian partners) and was helmed by Hungarian Istvan Szabo, the American Bening does not qualify, whereas Jason Leigh (in a Canadian production) and McKellen (in a 8/10 Canadian production) are eligible.

Academy chairman Paul Gratton calls the rule a ‘flawed compromise.’

‘The Academy doesn’t want minority Canadian coproductions to swamp the majority Canadian films,’ he says. ‘Members expressed concern that all the key awards would go to non-Canadians, and was that what the Genies were about?’

It’s not the solution that filmmaker David Cronenberg had in mind three years ago when he slammed the Genies jury for allegedly discriminating against foreign actors after Ralph Fiennes, Miranda Richardson and Gabriel Byrne, British stars of his feature Spider, a Canada/U.K. copro, were snubbed despite rave reviews.

But after much wrangling and debate, the Academy decided against resurrecting the prizes for best foreign actor and actress, scrapped after 1983.

Instead, Genie rules allow minority copros helmed by foreigners to qualify only in the juried best picture and craft competitions. So, Being Julia will nonethelesss challenge this year for a best picture Genie, as well as for best supporting actor for Canadian Bruce Greenwood.

It gets more complicated still. According to the Genie rulebook, ‘Where, however, the director is Canadian, the minority coproduction will be deemed a majority Canadian coproduction for the purposes of eligibility in all categories of the Genie Awards.’

But Istvan Szabo’s Hungarian passport means he and Bening need not apply.

Serendipity Point Films, Being Julia’s Canadian producer, had no comment on the Academy rules.

The bias against foreign actors in copros about which Cronenberg complained may still exist among Genie jurors, if one considers the case of Head in the Clouds, a majority Canadian copro with the U.K. and Spain, directed by Brit John Duigan. Academy voters clearly liked the film, granting it seven noms for local craftspeople, but it was shut out of the acting categories, despite performances by high-profile foreign stars Charlize Theron (a 2004 Oscar winner), Penelope Cruz and Stuart Townsend, who were all Genie-eligible.

Of course, it’s highly possible that Bening, Theron and Cruz would not have shown up had they been nominated, especially as Canada’s film awards follow the Oscars, traditionally the high point of the awards season. Gratton says he’s comfortable either way.

‘Would [Hollywood stars] contribute to the glamour quotient? There’s no denying that,’ he says. ‘But we’d like to think some of the Canadian actors can stand up as stars, too.’

Stephen Waddell, an Academy member and national executive director of ACTRA, says that introducing foreign actor categories for the Genies is a non-starter.

‘Performers should compete on an equal basis, not in categories based on citizenship,’ Waddell insists.

To understand the aversion to foreign talent, one must look back to the tax-shelter era of filmmaking in the 1970s and ’80s, and the long shadow it still casts.

The first best picture Genie winner was Canada/U.S. copro The Changeling, the George C. Scott starrer with no discernible Canadian talent or storyline. Foreigners who have captured best actor Genies in the past include Brits Ian Holm for The Sweet Hereafter and Jeremy Irons for Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers.

But with the rules currently in place – perhaps coupled with the sentiments of Academy voters – the Genies remain focused on spotlighting local talent and not about the distraction – albeit a potentially attention-getting one – of Hollywood stars gracing the Canadian film industry’s annual party.