Actress in a Leading Role: Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth: The Golden Age), Julie Christie (Away from Her), Marion Cotillard (La vie en rose), Laura Linney (The Savages), Ellen Page (Juno)

Adapted Screenplay: Christopher Hampton (Atonement), Sarah Polley (Away from Her) , Ronald Harwood (The Diving Bell and the Butterfly), Joel Coen & Ethan Coen (No Country for Old Men), Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood)

In a year filled with prizes and accolades for Away from Her, the icing on the cake so far came when the Hamilton, ON-shot drama fetched Oscar nominations for one of its stars, 66-year-old British movie legend Julie Christie, and for first-time writer/director Sarah Polley.

Christie’s nomination in the best actress category was expected, following a SAG award and a Golden Globe win last month for her turn as Alzheimer’s-sufferer Fiona opposite Gordon Pinsent, as her emotionally conflicted husband Grant. The film also stars Olympia Dukakis, Michael Murphy and Wendy Crewson.

Away from Her coproducer Danny Iron of Toronto’s Foundry Films tells Playback that Polley’s nom for adapted screenplay, meanwhile, came as a bit of a shock.

‘Especially this year, there’s such a strong batch of adapted screenplays,’ he says. The nod puts the 29-year-old up against Hollywood heavyweights including the Coen Brothers for No Country for Old Men and Paul Thomas Anderson for There Will Be Blood.

Coproducer Simone Urdl of The Film Farm concurs. ‘It’s quite astonishing that this small Canadian film with a first-time filmmaker is sharing nominations with the Coen Brothers.’

‘This is really just one more milestone in a journey of milestones for Sarah,’ says Hussain Amarshi, president of Mongrel Media, the film’s Canadian distributor.

Polley, who is in Toronto shooting Vincenzo Natali’s feature Splice, was unavailable for comment due to a hectic film schedule.

The actress-turned-filmmaker put the wheels in motion for her debut feature seven years ago, after she read famed Canuck author Alice Munro’s short story The Bear Came Over the Mountain, on which Away from Her is based.

‘As I read, I kept seeing Julie’s face in the character of Fiona,’ Polley told Playback in an earlier interview. She had acted alongside Christie in Hal Hartley’s No Such Thing (2001) and Isabel Coixet’s The Secret Life of Words (2005). Christie reportedly turned down the role numerous times before finally accepting.

Five years later, the $4-million feature premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, and Polley and Christie haven’t looked back. It’s Christie’s fourth nomination – she won in her first try for Darling in 1966.

Away from Her has garnered accolades from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the U.S. National Board of Review, the Writers Guild of Canada, the Broadcast Film Critics Association, and BAFTA, among others.

It also fared well at the domestic box office, where the drama raked in more than $1.4 million for Mongrel. Its worldwide earnings total nearly US$8 million, according to Box Office Mojo. Away from Her is distributed in the U.S. by Lionsgate, which is reported to have spent a considerable amount to bring the little film to the attention of Academy members through DVD mail-outs.

The nominations bode well for DVD sales, according to Amarshi.

‘It certainly will give it a bit of a boost…hopefully [the Oscar noms] will encourage more Canadians to see it,’ he says. The distributor recently rereleased Away from Her on a limited edition DVD featuring commentary from Christie.

‘[The nomination] gives the film a life beyond the theater…it will have a presence for years and years,’ agrees Iron, adding that Academy Award nods lend great validation to a project.

Amarshi, who met Polley 12 years ago on the set of Atom Egoyan’s Exotica, turned philosophical as he talked about what the film’s success means for Canadian cinema.

‘It’s a timely reminder to us to concentrate on making authentic films that have international resonance. Trying to make more generic films is not the answer,’ he says.

The Academy Awards are scheduled to be handed out Feb. 24, though the WGA strike threatens to put a damper on celebrations. Polley has said she would not cross the picket line to attend the ceremony.