The fish on the butcher’s block didn’t get a supporting actor nod, but you could say the scaly narrator of Denis Villeneuve’s Maelstrom took this year’s Genie Awards hook, line and sinker.

Maelstrom, a French-language Quebec film about a callous young woman who flees a hit-and-run but finds redemption from an unlikely source, was the big winner at the 21st annual awards, held Jan. 29 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Maelstrom hooked a total of five trophies, including best motion picture, accepted by producers Roger Frappier and Luc Vandal; achievement in direction and best screenplay for Villeneuve; performance by an actress in a leading role for Marie-Josee Croze; and achievement in cinematography for Andre Turpin.

‘No questions about the fish tonight,’ Villeneuve joked. ‘It’s my night.’

Villeneuve told reporters he’d been confident about winning, based on the film’s enthusiastic reviews and reception last fall at the Toronto International Film Festival. After Frappier countered that the young director had been shaking with nervousness earlier in the evening, Villeneuve confessed to being ‘astonished’ by his successes.

Maelstrom is also Canada’s official entry for Oscar consideration as best foreign film. After the awards, Frappier acknowledged that some of the film’s themes, including abortion, may limit its appeal – not only with Oscar voters, but also with moviegoers. Referring to Maelstrom’s collection of Genies, Frappier added, ‘If that would bring awareness, then that would be a good thing. I hope people will be curious to see the film that’s won best picture.’ Maelstrom, recently rereleased in Montreal, opened Jan. 26 in Toronto, and is to hit theatres shortly in Vancouver.

At press time, Arrow Features picked up u.s. distribution rights for Maelstrom.

The Genie show, hosted by wtn celebrity interviewer Brian Linehan and broadcast live on cbc, proceeded at a fair clip. Rudy Buttignol, chairman of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, acknowledged the passing of Al Waxman, a national tv icon and former Academy chairman himself.

Croze provided one of the evening’s most emotional acceptance speeches. The actress, largely unknown prior to Maelstrom, thanked her mother, Dolores, who adopted her at age three.

The award for performance by an actor in a leading role went to Tony Nardi for the little-seen My Father’s Angel. Nardi plays a Bosnian Muslim who has left the atrocities of war for the greener pastures of Vancouver, where he encounters a Serb who denies media reports of the situation back home.

Honors for actor in a supporting role went to the effusive Martin Cummins for director Clement Virgo’s Love Come Down, the story of two half-brothers, one black and one white, who share a decade-old family tragedy. The film, yet to see release in the major centres, won the second most awards (three), also getting the nod for overall sound and sound editing.

Cummins, involved in Vancouver’s acting community for 15 years, said, ‘This is the first time I’ve done something and looked back and felt good about it.’

Previous credits for Cummins, who remarked on the b.c. industry’s reliance on u.s. service productions, include Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan.

Cummins also wrote, produced and directed We All Fall Down, a semi-autobiographical feature about his experience living in Vancouver’s downtown eastside. Populated with transients, prostitutes and drug addicts, the film yielded an award for performance by an actress in a supporting role for Helen Shaver. Shaver, who invested in the $300,000 film and served on the production team, says the heart of its story is something she understands – ‘it’s about taking something from the outside to fix how you feel inside.’

In the category of best documentary, Toronto director Ron Mann won for Grass, which traces the inanities of the u.s. war on marijuana, with narration by Woody Harrelson. Mann used the victor’s podium as a platform to express his pro-cannabis views.

‘I remember growing up in the ’70s, smoking pot and not seeing myself as a criminal,’ Mann later told reporters.

The National Film Board, shut out in the doc category despite placing four of the five nominees, took the prize for animated short with Village of Idiots, directed by Oscar-winner Eugene Fedorenko and Rose Newlove.

The Art of War, the Wesley Snipes feature shot in Montreal by local director Christian Duguay and produced by Filmline International, was the recipient of the Golden Reel Award, which recognizes the highest domestic revenue in the qualifying period. Done in the classic Hollywood action style, the film grossed $4.5 million at the Canadian box office.

With files from susan tolusso

Following is the complete list of Genie winners.

• Best Motion Picture: Maelstrom -Roger Frappier, Luc Vandal, producers

• Achievement in Direction: Denis Villeneuve – Maelstrom

• Best Screenplay: Denis Villeneuve – Maelstrom

• Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Tony Nardi – My Father’s Angel

• Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Marie-Josee Croze – Maelstrom

• Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Martin Cummins – Love Come Down

• Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Helen Shaver – We All Fall Down

• Achievement in Cinematography: Andre Turpin – Maelstrom

• Achievement in Editing: Susan Shipton – Possible Worlds

• Achievement in Art Direction/Production Design: Francois Seguin, Daniele Rouleau – Possible Worlds

• Achievement in Costume Design: Michel Robidas – Stardom

• Achievement in Music – Original Score: Patric Caird – Here’s to Life!

• Achievement in Music – Original Song: Francois Dompierre, ‘Fortuna’ – Laura Cadieux’La Suite

• Achievement in Overall Sound: Daniel Pellerin, Paul Adlaf, Peter Kelly, Brad Thornton, Brad Zoern – Love Come Down

• Achievement in Sound Editing: David McCallum, Fred Brennan, Susan Conley, Steven Hammond, Garrett Kerr, Jane Tattersall, Robert Warchol – Love Come Down

• Best Documentary: Ron Mann – Grass

• Best Animated Short: Michael Scott, Eugene Fedorenko, Rose Newlove, David Verrall – Village of Idiots

• Best Live Action Short Drama: Andre Theberge, Alain Jacques – Le p’tit Varius •

-www.academy.ca