Show business looked more like ‘no-show’ business at the 2004 ACTRA Toronto Awards, when two of the three winners failed to appear. Brent Carver won best male performance for his turn as one of William Shakespeare’s sidekicks in Elizabeth Rex, but was stuck down in New York City with, fittingly, a production of King Lear. Rex scored again when Diane D’Aquila won for best female performance for her role as Elizabeth I. Sonja Smits – on hand to pick up her own award of excellence – accepted the trophy on D’Aquila’s behalf, praising her ‘very raw, very powerful’ performance as the Virgin Queen.

Killed Bill, Vol. 2

Vancouver: At the Gemini Awards in 2001, Brad Wright experienced first hand the discrimination of Canada’s production sector caste system. Stargate SG-1 – a CAVCO-certified series he codeveloped since it debuted in 1997 and managed into one of the most successful sci-fi shows in syndication – was up against 10-out-of-10 Canadian-content dramas like Da Vinci’s Inquest in the best drama category. As the Stargate name was mentioned in the list of nominees, someone yelled out, ‘They don’t belong here!’

Denys Arcand and Denise Robert are racking up the frequent flyer miles, trotting off from one awards gala to the next.

* TVA Films has hired Joanne Senecal as VP of distribution. Senecal was previously director of marketing and distribution for Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm and GM of distribution for Behaviour Distribution. For the past four years, she has been associated with Montreal’s Film Tonic.

Toronto-headquartered 3D graphics systems and services provider Alias recently announced that it is in talks with a private equity firm for the financing to allow it to continue separate from California parent Silicon Graphics.

The Ontario Liberals and newly minted Premier Dalton McGuinty raised eyebrows last month when they quietly floated the idea of privatizing TVOntario – commenting in a pre-budget public document that the pubcaster has strayed somewhat from its original, purely educational mandate, and wondering aloud if a better use could be found for the $54 million put in every year by the province, which is carrying a $5.6-billion deficit.

Open letter to Ontario Minister of Culture Madeleine Meilleur

The Prime Time in Ottawa conference is organized by the CFTPA only, separate from the APFTQ. Incorrect information appeared in a story in the Feb. 16 issue.

That loud whooshing noise we all heard last month was CHUM Television missing an easy, underhand pitch in the ongoing baseball game of its public image.

These days, Toronto-based director of photography Gavin Smith finds himself in the company of the residents of Liberty Avenue on the Temple Street Productions/ Showcase series Queer as Folk. Not so long ago, he was hanging out with werewolves, lensing the Canadian cult horror flick sequel Ginger Snaps II: Unleashed, currently on Canuck screens via Seville Pictures. (Lions Gate has international rights.)

Montreal director of photography Pierre Gill was one of the big winners at the American Society of Cinematographers Awards ceremony in Los Angeles on Feb. 8. Gill nabbed the lensing prize for telefilm on a network channel for the miniseries Hitler: The Rise of Evil, the Alliance Atlantis/CBS production that also aired domestically on Global affiliates.