The 55th annual Primetime Emmy Awards stands to be one of the best in years for Canadian representation judging by the list of nominees announced late last month.

Alliance Atlantis obtained 14 nominations including seven for Hitler: The Rise of Evil, six for CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and one for CSI: Miami.

International coproduction Napoleon matched Hitler’s totals in the miniseries category with seven including outstanding miniseries and supporting actor in a miniseries or movie. The Canada/U.K./France collaboration was coproduced by Montreal’s Transfilm, the U.K.’s Spice Factory and France’s GMT Productions.

‘It’s great for a thing like this to be nominated,’ says Jonathan Vanger, U.K. coproducer on Napoleon. ‘It’s the ultimate coproduction. I think it should be taken as an example of how to work in coproduction.’ Canadians Real Proulx (art direction) and Sylvie Talbot (main title design) are among the nominees for their work on the mini.

Hitler: The Rise of Evil is nominated for outstanding miniseries, supporting actor in a miniseries for Peter O’Toole, art direction, costumes, single-camera picture editing, music composition and sound editing.

John Douglas Smith and Tom Bjelic of Toronto-based Critical Post supervised the sound edit and are nominated for their work on part one. ‘We had WWI scenes, sounds from the beer halls where there were his [Hitler’s] initial speeches, and then also the massive Nazi rallies, so a wide spectrum of sounds was needed,’ says Smith. ‘We were mixing day and night, sound designing, conforming… it was very challenging.’

Cirque Du Soleil: Fire Within received a nomination for outstanding nonfiction program (alternative). Montreal’s Galafilm Productions and Creations Musca, a subsidiary of Cirque du Soleil Images, produced the 13 x 30 documentary series.

‘The Cirque du Soleil is still slightly mysterious to people’ says Silvia Wilson, one of the Galafilm producers. ‘We had access to behind the scenes and, I think, to some really compelling characters.’ Fire Within was executive produced by Galafilm’s Arnie Gelbart, Cirque du Soleil Images’ Vincent Gagne and Musca’s Marie Cote. Producers are Sylvia Wilson (Galafilm) and Martin Bolduc (Musca).

TNT’s MOW Door to Door, starring William H. Macy and shot in Vancouver, has a slew of Canadian nominees, including Jan Kiesser for his work as cinematographer. Candice Elzinga and Bette Chadwick are nominated for outstanding casting for a miniseries, movie or a special. A nomination for outstanding hairstyling goes to Julie McHaffie, and one for outstanding makeup (prosthetic) to Charles Porlier and Jayne Dancose. Also nominated are Randy Kiss, Geoff Turner, Perry Leigh Fifield and Martin Fossum for outstanding single-camera sound mixing for a miniseries or a movie.

Patriarch Pictures’ MOW Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story has three nominations, including one for Nova Scotia producer Michael Mahoney, in the outstanding made-for-television movie category.

Shot in Montreal and serviced by Muse Entertainment were Gleason, up for best lead actor in a miniseries or a movie (Brad Garrett), and The Rudy Giuliani Story, which is up for two Emmys, including outstanding makeup for a miniseries, movie, or a special (non-prosthetic), with Canadian nominees Jocelyne Bellemare, Stephan Dupuis, and Cecile Rigault.

-www.emmys.tv