Game-making giant unveils six-year hiring and spending spree, and plans for a new CG studio

Bev Oda saw more than a few flashbulbs on election night as she and her Conservative colleagues gained office, but it was film and TV players who were left blinking, as they consider what the new government means for their futures.

The Quebec box-office hit C.R.A.Z.Y. leads the pack with a dozen nominations and will face off against Water, with nine, and It’s All Gone Pete Tong, with eight, in categories including best picture and best director at the 2006 Genie Awards.

Kirstine Layfield has been announced as the CBC’s new executive head of programming, taking the job vacated by Slawko Klymkiw last year. Layfield was most recently the senior VP content, lifestyle, at Alliance Atlantis Communications. Layfield says that details of her transition are being worked out, but she should be installed at the pubcaster within the next few weeks.

Following are the 2006 Genie nominees as provided by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.

The B.C. industry let out a sigh of relief last month when the provincial government announced it is extending its film and TV production tax credits to 2008, contrary to the advice of a recent government report.
The credits, which pay back 18% or 30% of labor costs – to foreign and domestic productions, respectively – were set to expire on March 31, but B.C. Finance Minister Carole Taylor announced her decision on Jan. 20, well ahead of her upcoming budget.

A new partnership for Barna-Alper Productions could make the company not only the country’s biggest indigenous producer, but also a player in new areas including distribution and broadcast.
Toronto-based BAP has partnered up with Blue Ice Group Capital, headed by entrepreneur Neil Tabatznik and filmmaker Steven Silver, both hailing from South Africa, in a deal that bolsters BAP on both the financial and creative sides.

Vancouver: Lionsgate Entertainment is closing the gates on its North Vancouver studios, and on March 15 will hand over the keys to B.C. real estate firm Bosa Development for $46.1 million.

Park City, UT: Vancouver filmmaker Julia Kwan’ s film Eve & the Fire Horse won the special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival, along with praise from one of the world’s best-known film critics, but still does not yet have a U.S. or international distributor.

Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger star in Brokeback Mountain, which leads all films with eight nominations at the 78th Academy Awards. Both actors received nods – Ledger for lead – as did the Calgary-shot film itself for best picture and Ang Lee for director. Alberta Filmworks was involved on the production.

The battle for Canada’s election night eyeballs between CTV and CBC was almost as tightly contested as the one between incoming prime minister Stephen Harper and the outgoing Paul Martin. In the case of the former, CTV emerged victorious on Jan. 23, although some interesting subplots materialized over the five-hour broadcasts.

Although the box-office story remained the same as of Jan. 26, with Les Boys IV and Maurice Richard continuing their dominance in the one-two positions for the seventh straight week ­- both skating past the $4-million mark – Deepa Mehta’s Water stubbornly hung on to the third spot, reaching rarified English-Canadian film heights with a cumulative total of $2 million.