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2003 Genie Awards nominees
Best Motion Picture
No Egoyan-Cronenberg rematch at Genie 23
‘In this corner, in the grey pompadour, his soft-spoken manner only hiding the grotesque machinations in his mind, the Baron of Blood – Dave ‘Deprave’ Cronenberg! And in this corner, in the spectacles – you’ll never see him do a romantic comedy – Canada’s Denizen of Downbeat – Atom ‘the Armenian Hammer’ Egoyan!’
Academy aims for fair awards process
During the last Winter Olympics – as Canada, France and Russia traded accusations over that figure skating scandal – more than a few observers commented that, corrupt judge or not, it is a very imprecise process to rank creative performances, be it twirling on ice to the tune of Lara’s Theme or, say, directing A Beautiful Mind.
Ararat shines with nine
Ararat leads the 2003 Genie pack with nine nominations, but conspicuously absent among those noms is achievement in direction for Atom Egoyan. The introspective Toronto filmmaker can console himself, however, in being cited for best motion picture – he coproduced the Alliance Atlantis/Serendipity Point Films drama with Robert Lantos – and best original screenplay.
Alpay scores nom in debut
Coming from the rarefied atmosphere of academia to make your screen debut in an Atom Egoyan movie would be a major adjustment for most.
Suddenly Naked redeemed by six noms
Anne Wheeler is feeling decidedly done wrong these days.
New film lost in Wilderness
Director Anne Wheeler’s Suddenly Naked may have proven popular with the Genie jury, but her latest feature, The Edge of Madness (aka A Wilderness Station), is currently languishing under the radar.
Genie nom ices year for Gunnarsson
With a Directors Guild of Canada statuette, awarded in October for helming Rare Birds, resting in his trophy case and an unprecedented two MOWs premiering Dec. 15 simultaneously in Canada and the U.S., Christmas has come early for Sturla Gunnarsson. Add to that a possible best director Genie win, and we could easily dub 2002 ‘The Year of the Gunnarsson.’
Bollywood/Hollywood draws crowds, noms
Bollywood/Hollywood has been spotted at, or near, the top of many lists this past fall – from the Toronto International Film Festival, at which it opened the Perspective Canada program; to its impressive opening weekend, besting the per screen average of Men with Brooms at $8,700; to, most recently, five Genie nominations, placing it in the upper ranks of multiple-nominated films such as Ararat, Spider and Savage Messiah.
Quebec-Montreal travels rocky road of romance
Quebec-Montreal will surely go down as one of the year’s happy cinematic surprises, both with Quebec audiences and the Genie jurors, who have voted it in as a nominee for best motion picture, achievement in direction, editing and original screenplay.
Spider caught in Genies’ web
Critics at the Cahiers du Cinema would brandish their baguettes like battle-axes.
‘Different’ film nets Beaudin third nom
Le Collectionneur is one of Quebec’s biggest box-office successes of 2002 and, as a commercially driven film, marks a departure from Montreal director Jean Beaudin’s traditionally politicized fare. The film has earned Beaudin his third Genie nomination for best director.
Triptych and Mehta shoot Shields’ bestseller
Fresh from the success of her multiple-Genie-nominated Bollywood/Hollywood, Toronto-based filmmaker Deepa Mehta rolled cameras earlier this month on a big-screen version of Carol Shield’s bestseller The Republic of Love – one of several literary adaptations in the works for Triptych Media. It’s the story of Tom, a late-night radio talk show host played by the ubiquitous Bruce Greenwood (13 Days, Ararat, Below), and his unlikely pairing with incurable romantic Fay, played by British import Emilia Fox (The Pianist, David Copperfield). Claire Bloom, Jackie Burroughs, Gary Farmer and Fox’s real-life father, Edward Fox, also star.
Dufferin Gate gets two new series
Vancouver: Perhaps the one West Coast production company not feeling the economic pinch of 2002, Dufferin Gate got an early holiday gift from main customer Showtime. Two of the three pilots shot earlier in the fall have been picked up as series and there is a new MOW on the way, also in the new year.
Earthlings, the tentative title for a one-hour series about the lives of lesbians in West Hollywood, will be 15 hours over the season including the two-hour pilot.
Race on to preserve historic footage
Geoffrey Hopkinson is, there can be little doubt, proud of his collection.
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