immersed in a pop culture saturated with a ‘from this moment’ mentality, Canadians could be forgiven for assuming our national cinema has only really gained international acclaim in the past few years. And author Maria Topalovich could be forgiven for wanting to prove them wrong.

In fact, Topalovich, who is also president and ceo of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, displays the enduring regard for the Canadian film industry in nearly every chapter of her new book, And The Genie Goes To…, celebrating 50 years of the Canadian Film Awards.

Launched this fall amid festival fever and in time for the 15th anniversary of the Genie Awards, the elegant coffee table volume is one of the most complete records of Canada’s film industry awards, covering each year from 1947-48 (the awards were named cfa as of 1949) to 1999.

‘The whole point,’ says Topalovich, ‘is this history has never been really documented, the early years that is. For me and for most people I’ve talked to, the first 30 years’ of awards data are recorded here and there, without much context as to their organizers, the rationale of changing categories, and accurate titles and credits.

She adds that after she presented the book at one of the Academy’s Breakfast Club seminars, cinematographer Bob Brooks stood up to say thanks ‘from all of us older guys…who have not forgotten 1948 and ’49.’

While in some years she was happy just to locate complete records of cfa winners, Topalovich says she ended up adding text on the political and social climate in which some of the films were made, plus some discussion of filmmakers, production companies and their contributions to Canadian film history. (A case could be made that the earliest of the film awards – which were paintings, including some from the Group of Seven! – were remarkable social contributions in and of themselves.)

Sometimes, evidence of industry politics is visible as much in what is omitted as what is written. In several years – 1950-51, ’56, ’59, ’60 and ’62, for instance – no film won Film of the Year. The ‘TV Entertainment’ category first appeared in 1961, almost a decade after the Canadian launch of tv, but in 1963 no award was given.

As now, the cfa categories varied from year to year according to the types of production being made, but the variance was much more pronounced in the early years. Special awards seemed to suit the mood of the judges of the moment, rather than having a set theme. Such categories as ‘public relations’ and ‘sales promotion’ reflected the educational/informational/advertising nature of a significant number of projects available both to private producers and the National Film Board.

Topalovich says a major change in the awards process has been the evolution from a single five-person jury to today’s Academy system of peer juries and membership voting. ‘It’s still not perfect,’ she says, but argues that peer judging generally strengthens ‘the big picture’: it means that even if a strong film is overlooked, it’s because it was competing in an exceptionally strong field.

Think about that, about where Canada’s entertainment awards have been and where they’re going, the next time the presenter says, ‘And the Genie goes to….’ *

-www.academy.ca