This year Alliance Atlantis weighs in light with only seven Primetime Emmy nominations for two productions, a departure from last year’s showing that saw the Canadian media giant dominate among its American counterparts with 27 noms for six different productions.

‘Last year, about half of our nominations were for the Judy Garland miniseries,’ says Seaton McLean, president, production at Alliance Atlantis. ‘And we didn’t have a miniseries that was eligible this year.’

In 2001, AAC dominated in the miniseries category for Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, which accounted for 13 nominations.

This year, Stockard Channing receives an outstanding supporting actress in a miniseries or a movie nom for her role as Judy Shepard in the MOW The Matthew Shepard Story, an AAC/NBC production in association with Cosmic/Clearlight Pictures.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, an AAC/CBS production, receives six nods, including one for outstanding drama series, up against Law & Order (NBC), Six Feet Under (HBO), 24 (Fox) and The West Wing (NBC). CSI, which last year was nominated for four awards, is also nominated for outstanding cinematography for a single-camera series for DOP Jonathan West, outstanding sound editing for a series, outstanding single-camera sound mixing for a series, and outstanding makeup for a series in both the prosthetic and non-prosthetic categories.

‘I’m terrifically proud of CSI and the Emmy nomination is the icing on the cake,’ says McLean. CSI, which has been sold in 166 countries, is currently the most-watched program in the U.S., second in Canada and third in Australia.

For the fourth consecutive year, Vancouver post-production company Rainmaker is nominated for three of the programs in the category of outstanding special visual effects in a series – two episodes of Stargate SG-1 (MGM/TV/Showtime/Double Secret Production in association with Gekko Film Groups) and the pilot episode of Smallville (Warner Bros. Television and Tollin/Robbins Productions).

‘We’re extremely proud to be among the Emmy nominees again this year. It’s evidence of the world-class talent at Rainmaker,’ says director of visual effects Brian Moylan.

Toronto post-production facility Imarion has been nominated in the outstanding individual achievement in a craft: graphic and artistic design category for its work on Planet Storm, produced by Toronto production company YAP for Discovery Communications, Channel 4 and Channel 4 International.

With only four months to complete 200 composite shots and 50 entirely CG-generated images, Imarion president and visual F/X producer Alex Olegnowicz hopes the nomination will help his company expand. ‘We hope it will get our name around in the visual F/X arena,’ he says. ‘We are known for doing F/X for documentaries, but we want to expand into feature films and commercials.’

Montreal production company Cirque du Soleil Image is nominated in the outstanding variety, music or comedy special category for Cirque du Soleil Presents Alegria, filmed last July during performances in Sydney, Australia.

It is up against the 74 Annual Academy Awards on ABC, which ironically included a Cirque du Soleil Image segment. But as Vincent Gagne, VP multimedia of Cirque du Soleil Image, explains, ‘The next day when they polled across America to find out what viewers’ favorite moments were, it was Halle Berry and us, so we are kind of up against ourselves.’ Cirque du Soleil Image editor Lewis Cohen also receives a technical nomination for his work on this segment.

Cirque du Soleil Presents Alegria was coproduced with U.K.-based Serpent Films. The special aired May 14 on Radio-Canada in Quebec, receiving 17% of the market share, and on Bravo! in the U.S. Granada International handles distribution in Europe and Latin America.

The special is also nominated in the outstanding choreography category for Vancouver-born choreographer Debra Brown, who is also nominated in the same category along with Jamie King and Alexandre Magno for Madonna Live: The Drowned World Tour, a Cream Cheese Films/Tadpole production with HBO Original Programming.

Brown is not the only Canadian talent hiding among the nominees. The HBO MOW Dinner With Friends, produced by Laura Ziskin Productions in association with HBO Films, is executive produced by Norman Jewison and nominated in two categories, including outstanding made-for-television movie.

David Greene of Unlimited Productions is nominated for outstanding sound mixing for a variety or music series or special for his work on the Opening Ceremony Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games.