LUCIDMEDIA

The Real Genie Winners

Written by Adam A. Donaldson Monday, 06 April 2009 10:59

Film

The 29th annual Genie Awards took place in Ottawa this weekend, and it was a typically Canadian affair. Taking place at the Canadian Aviation Museum, stars walked along the brown carpet, not red; the receiving line was indoors, not out; and the nominees arrived in Ottawa Friday via train, rather than private plane. The war film Passchendaele and the culture-clash picture The Necessities of Life may have been the night’s big winners, but the big topic of conversation were the actions of those guys in the century-old office building on the Hill a few blocks over.

One particular focus of the activism was the Stephen Harper government’s refusal to the CBC for new funding. “Oh glorious leader, please save the CBC,” said actress Wendy Crewson, one of the awards’ presenters. “We need the CBC strong. It is the cornerstone of our creative infrastructure and we must make sure that we save the CBC.”

Sarah Polley, who was at the awards presenting the Best Director prize, also talked about her concerns about the public broadcaster. “Much of what I learned about being Canadian was from the CBC,” she said. “Clearly a strong message was sent over the last few months to the Conservatives … that their mockery of the Canadian arts wasn't necessarily serving them well with voters. I think they've certainly changed the way they are talking about the arts, but their actions in terms of the CBC are not encouraging.”

Fortunately, for their egos anyway, no Conservative MPs were in attendance, however two Liberal MPs, Martha Hall Findlay and Pablo Rodriguez, were. A spokeswoman for Heritage Minister James Moore told The Globe and Mail he was attending events in his riding, but sent along a message concerning the government’s treatment of the CBC. “Anyone who claims the CBC is being sorely neglected has clearly not looked at the budgets since 2006. Our government has only increased the CBC's budget – this year it will receive over a billion dollars in taxpayers' money.”

But back to the awards themselves, and the night more or less belonged to Passchendaele, the most expensive Canadian-produced film ever. Winning five of the six competitive Genies it was nominated for, Passchendale won Best Picture as well as awards for art direction, costume design, sound, and sound editing. Its award for top box office, the previously announced Golden Reel Award, was accepted by producer Niv Fichman, who thanked the Cineplex-Odeon theatre chain, saying: “It is rare for Canadian films to get access to screen time.”

Paul Gross was not in attendance due to work commitments in LA, but his name was dropped numerous times during the thank you speeches. Gross himself missed out on his main award, loosing the Best Actor prize to Necessities star Natar Ungalaaq. “My family is going to go ‘Yaay,’” Ungalaaq told reporters later, raising the award above his head.

The unofficial vindication award went to the romantic comedy Young People F***ing, the spark for last year’s Bill C-10 controversy about public funding for “morally questionable” material, as star Kristin Booth won Best Supporting Actress. Booth promised on the “red” carpet that if she won she’d celebrate by using as many f-bombs as she can. So she started her speech thusly: “Oh my God, I'm so f**king excited.”

In other major awards, Ellen Burstyn - who also did not attend - won Best Actress for her performance as the elder Hagar Shipley in The Stone Angel. Callum Keith Rennie won Best Supporting Actor for his role in Normal. And the prize for Best Documentary went to Up the Yangtze. Here’s the full list of winners.

ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN
CAROL SPIER, JANICE BLACKIE-GOODINE - Passchendaele

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY
GREGORY MIDDLETON CSC - Fugitive Pieces

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN
WENDY PARTRIDGE – Passchendaele

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTION
BENOIT PILON - Ce qu'il faut pour vivre (The Necessities of Life)

ACHIEVEMENT IN EDITING
RICHARD COMEAU - Ce qu'il faut pour vivre (The Necessities of Life)

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC - ORIGINAL SCORE
JOHN MCCARTHY (The Stone Angel)

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC - ORIGINAL SONG
DR. SHIVA – Amal, “Rahi Nagufta” (song title)

ACHIEVEMENT IN OVERALL SOUND
LOU SOLAKOFSKI, GARRELL CLARK, STEVE FOSTER, DON WHITE – Passchendaele

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING
JANE TATTERSALL, KEVIN BANKS, BARRY GILMORE, ANDY MALCOLM, DAVE ROSE – Passchendaele

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
MARIE-SISSI LABRÈCHE, LYNE CHARLEBOIS – Borderline

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
SLEEPING BETTY- Claude Cloutier, Marcel Jean

BEST DOCUMENTARY
UP THE YANGTZE - Yung Chang, Mila Aung-Thwin, John Christou, Germaine Ying-Gee Wong

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT DRAMA
NEXT FLOOR - Denis Villeneuve, Phoebe Greenberg

BEST MOTION PICTURE
PASSCHENDAELE - Niv Fichman, Francis Damberger, Paul Gross, Frank Siracusa

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
BERNARD ÉMOND - Ce qu'il faut pour vivre (The Necessities of Life)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
NATAR UNGALAAQ - Ce qu'il faut pour vivre (The Necessities of Life)

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
CALLUM KEITH RENNIE – Normal

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
ELLEN BURSTYN - The Stone Angel

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
KRISTIN BOOTH - Young People F***ing

SPECIAL AWARDS

THE GOLDEN REEL AWARD - PASSCHENDAELE
Producers: Niv Fichman, Francis Damberger, Paul Gross, Frank Siracusa
Distributor: Alliance Films

CLAUDE JUTRA AWARD
Yves-Christian Fournier - Tout est parfait (Everything Is Fine)

SPECIAL AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKE-UP DESIGN
Adrien Morot, Réjean Goderre, Marie-France Guy, Bruno Gatien, Nathalie Trépanier - Cruising Bar 2