Playback editorial staff, along with their scores from last year’s Genie Awards predictions, includes: Mark Dillon (3/4), Sean Davidson (1/4), M-Michelle Hille (1/4), Marcus Robinson (N/A), Dustin Dinoff (N/A) and Matthew Hays (N/A)
Last year’s winner: Les Triplettes de Belleville/The Triplets of Belleville
Playback predicts the winner: C.R.A.Z.Y.: SD, MD, DD, MH, MMH, MR

C.R.A.Z.Y.
Producers: Pierre Even, Jean-Marc Vallée
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée
Writers: Jean-Marc Vallée,
François Boulay
Starring: Marc-André Grondin,
Michel Côté, Danielle Proulx
Distributor: TVA Films
Box office: $6,214,651

Ever since it opened in Quebec last summer, filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée’s C.R.A.Z.Y. has been nearly unstoppable. While falling short of an Academy Award nomination for best foreign-language film, the local hit – set to win this year’s Golden Reel Award for biggest box office of 2005 – has garnered standing ovations on the international film festival circuit and has now netted a pack-leading 12 Genie Award nods and 14 Prix Jutra noms to boot.

Quebec audiences have taken to the film’s central metaphor: its Beaulieu family goes through its own revolution, just as Quebec society did. The drama has an overbearing father (Michel Côté) coping with his five unruly sons, the youngest of whom, Zack (Marc-André Grondin), turns out to be gay.

‘The film has ignited in a way that is pleasing to all of us,’ says producer Pierre Even. ‘And to have all of our contributions recognized with nominations – that has been very gratifying.’

But while the film has reaped plaudits and ticket sales at home, breaking through to the south is proving tough.

‘The American market is very difficult and complex for foreign-language films,’ says Even, acknowledging that C.R.A.Z.Y., despite having distribution deals locked throughout Europe and much of South America, still has no U.S. distrib.

‘We’re still getting two or three requests a week from festivals in cities throughout the U.S. Obviously, the film is catching on with some Americans. It is only a matter of time before we have a distributor there.’ Matthew Hays

Familia
Producer: Luc Déry
Writer/director: Louise Archambault
Starring: Sylvie Moreau, Mylène St-Sauveur, Macha Grenon, Micheline Lanctôt
Distributor: Christal Films
Box office: $437,452

A feature directorial debut is always a major challenge, but Quebec filmmaker Louise Archambault felt up to the task after having earned an MFA in film production from Concordia University and winning a number of awards for her short films.

Familia’s focus on mother-daughter dynamics came to Archambault after she sat down to write about parent-child relations in general.

‘Then I realized that my screenplay was going to make for a three-hour-long movie, so I decided to focus on the women,’ she recalls.

The resulting film, which opened the Toronto International Film Festival’s Canada First! sidebar, illustrates, through high drama and occasional hilarity, just how thorny mother-daughter relations can become. It tells the story of gambling addict Mimi (Sylvie Moreau) who leaves her boyfriend with her daughter in tow and moves in with childhood friend Janine (Macha Grenon), but complications arise.

‘Capturing the complexity of family dynamics, Familia is many things at once: intense, all-consuming, funny and heartbreaking,’ wrote TIFF programmer Stacey Donen back in September.

The film’s seven Genie noms include best direction and original screenplay for Archambault, who calls the recognition ‘hugely flattering.’ She adds that she feels blessed by her cast. Grenon and Moreau will face off for the best actress Genie, while Micheline Lanctôt is up for supporting actress.

‘If the acting had been bad, there is no way this film would have worked,’ the director says. ‘Most of the cast were my first choice for their roles. They certainly have chemistry on the screen.’ Matthew Hays

It’s All Gone Pete Tong
Producers: Elizabeth Yake, Allan Niblo, James Richardson
Writer/director: Michael Dowse
Starring: Paul Kaye, Beatriz Batarda, Kate McGowan, Mike Wilmot
Distributor: Odeon Films
Box office: $290,000

It could be a success story from a personals ad. A Canadian looking for an international partner finds a hip Brit with a lot of connections in the record biz. Result: beautiful music and an award-winning film.

That’s how the comedy-drama It’s All Gone Pete Tong was made as a copro between B.C.-based True West Films and the U.K.’s Vertigo Films. President and producer Elizabeth Yake says she started True West with a mandate to ‘focus on creating high-quality entertaining products for the world market,’ while Vertigo’s mandate is to make and distribute movies ‘at the kind of cost which most Hollywood studios spend on their star’s personal trainer.’

The film’s U.K. release is handled by Redbus Film Distribution, while boutique Matson Films has the U.S.

Making it all come together was the job of writer/director Michael Dowse. The winner of the best Canadian film prize at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival, Tong is likely the only Canuck feature ever shot in Ibiza, which is party central for Euro-trash thrill seekers.

The film centers on Frankie Wilde (Paul Kaye), a hot British DJ who has been managed to the top of the scene by Max Haggar (Mike Wilmot), his amoral Canadian agent. When everything goes ‘wrong Pete Tong’ – as the Brit expression goes – and Wilde loses his hearing, the movie switches from a lively satire to an exploration of the nearly demented DJ’s spiritual rebirth.

Dowse, whose first feature Fubar is already a cult favorite, is now developing Blue Movie, from the controversial Terry Southern novel, for Vertigo. Marc Glassman

Saint Ralph
Producers: Michael Souther, Teza Lawrence, Andrea Mann, Seaton McLean
Writer/director: Michael McGowan
Starring: Adam Butcher, Jennifer Tilly, Campbell Scott, Gordon Pinsent
Distributor: Odeon Films,
Box office: $331,000

‘If you take your glasses off and put the statue across the room, it looks just like an Oscar,’ says Amaze Film + Television producer Michael Souther of the Genie statuette. Souther is currently in New York, where he’s taking meetings on the feature Rumspringa, a Canada/U.K. copro.

‘We’re thrilled to be nominated, particularly in a year when there are so many terrific French and English film releases,’ he says. ‘It caps off an incredible ride for Saint Ralph, which started with the terrific launch at [the Toronto International Film Festival] in 2004 and continued to last December in Tokyo, when the first Japanese audience loved it.’

A heartwarming story about a 14-year-old boy (Adam Butcher) who runs the Boston Marathon in hopes of inspiring his comatose mother to make a miraculous recovery, the copro between Amaze and Alliance Atlantis Communications has garnered various prizes, including best family film and outstanding feature direction from the Directors Guild of Canada, and the Grand Prix from the Paris Film Festival.

Souther discounts the film’s U.S. setting as a market calculation. ‘It was organic to the story. Ralph wants to run the most prestigious marathon, and that’s the one in Boston.’

He attributes much of Saint Ralph’s success to grassroots campaigns, which were orchestrated through The Running Room chain in Canada and various jogging organizations in the U.S., where the film was released through Samuel Goldwyn Films. Both writer/director Michael McGowan, himself a marathon runner, and Butcher were featured in running magazines, helping the film reach its niche audience. Marc Glassman

Water
Producer: David Hamilton
Writer/director: Deepa Mehta
Starring: Seema Biswas, Lisa Ray,
John Abraham, Sarala
Distributor: Mongrel Media
Box office: $2 million

Producer David Hamilton is understandably pleased that Water has garnered nine Genie nominations. ‘Nine is good,’ he chuckles.

Having accepted the Vancouver Film Critics Circle’s best director prize on behalf of Water auteur Deepa Mehta, the Ottawa-based Hamilton comments, ‘If the media is celebrating Canadian culture, then we should do everything we can to support them.’

Water has received widespread critical plaudits since its opening-night screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. The conclusion of Mehta’s ‘elemental trilogy,’ which also includes Fire and Earth, the intense melodrama is set in a 1930s ashram, where Hindu widows live in poverty and virtual exile. Chuyia (Sarala), an eight-year-old child bride, joins the group when her elderly husband dies, and it is through her perspective that we view the forbidden romance between idealistic Gandhi supporter Narayana (John Abraham) and beautiful, rebellious widow Kalyani (Lisa Ray).

Water has become that rarity – a box-office hit out of English Canada. Besides giving kudos to Mehta for her script and direction, Hamilton gives much of the credit for the film’s success to domestic distrib Mongrel Media.

‘There’s a lot of trust [between us]. It’s critical to have a distributor as part of the team who can be more objective,’ he says. Hamilton and Mehta have been involved in Mongrel’s campaign, from posters to trailers to ads.

Hamilton is looking forward to Water’s U.S. release in April. ‘[Distrib] Fox Searchlight has been doing screenings every week. Deepa and Lisa are going to be in Elle and Vogue.’

The film, handled internationally by Celluloid Dreams, has sold in 30 territories worldwide. Marc Glassman