Vanguard, Discovery and Special Presentations programs announced

Festival favorite Army of One and yoga-minded Enlighten Up! among picks

Alliance sees quick return with Michel Côté comedy De père en flic. Hurt Locker a hit at Maple

Distributor and festival come together on DVDs, ready release of RIP and FLicKeR

When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that there will be 10 nominees for best picture at the 82nd Academy Awards next March, any producer could have been excused for swooning.

Filmmakers Ron Mann and Charles Officer took home two awards and $50,000 between them at the recent Premier’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts in Toronto. Mann (Grass, Comic Book Confidential) won the province’s prize for best individual artist, which comes with $35,000. He was most excited, however, that it also let him nominate the recipient for emerging artist, which along with the remaining $15,000 went to Officer.

Discovery Channel’s Jay Ingram and OMNI national VP Madeline Ziniak have been named to the Order of Canada. Governor General Michaelle Jean added some 60 names to the order’s ranks on Canada Day, nodding to Canucks in fields as varied as law, engineering, religion and sailboat design.

Calgary will host this year’s Gemini Awards on Nov. 14, taking the television awards to Alberta for the first time. The awards show will be produced by Calgary-based Joe Media Group (The Fiddle and the Drum, Fish Out of Water) and broadcast on Global and Showcase.

The teen romance sequel A vos marques…Party! 2 has passed the $1.2 million mark at the Quebec box office in the face of stiff competition from Hollywood franchise titans. The Quebecois film from director Frédéric D’Amours, released on June 16 on 100 screens province-wide to a target teen girl audience, grossed $523,000 in its first five days. ¿ vos marques… Party! 2 will now play on 86 screens in Quebec as the sequel tries to match the $2 million box office posted by the first ¿ vos marques film in 2007.

Canadian digital movie pioneer Imax Corp. crossed the $30 million international box office mark for Michael Bay’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen in a record 12 days. The Paramount Pictures release, which features scenes shot by Imax cameras, pulled in $4.6 million from July 3-5 on 169 Imax screens in North America alone. The second weekend performance on Imax screens represented around 10% of the movie’s $42.5 million weekend total in North America on less than 2% of screens.

Plans are underway to start the road to Oscar glory at the Toronto International Film Festival from Metro Hall Square. TIFF organizers and the City of Toronto are working out final details on extending the red carpet stroll outside Roy Thomson Hall a block west – to the corner of King and John Streets.