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Polytechnique Sweeps the 30th Genie Awards

Written by Brendan P Frye Tuesday, 13 April 2010 14:38

April 12^th was a star-studded night for Canadian Cinema. The 30^th Annual Genie Awards took place in Toronto, Ontario celebrating the best and brightest that Canadian film has to offer.  The event showed that the Canadian film industry is alive and well.  Even though it is not as big as Hollywood, it still has a lot to offer in terms of celebrities and cache.

The biggest winner of the night was Polytechnique, sweeping the awards taking home a whopping nine Genies including Best Motion Picture, Achievement in Direction and Original Screenplay. Polytechnique is a dramatization of the Montreal massacre that took place in 1989 where many female students were killed by an unstable misogamist. The sentiment was unanimous amongst the award-winning cast and crew of this film. They viewed the film as for the people who know of or were affected by the tragedy the film is based on. As the director stated the film “was not for the awards” yet they were all very happy at seeing the academy honour them and the film. Karine Vanasse, lead actress of Polytechnique was very sure that “in 20 years we will still be talking about the film” and for anyone who has seen it will know this is not far from the mark. It was a film well-worth the awards and any more awards it may win in the future.

Other notable winners include Joshua Jackson for Achievement By An Actor In A Leading Role for his performance in One Week. This was a Canadian film about a man who travels across Canada after discovering his cancer leaves him with only a short while left to live. Jackson is best known for his role as Pacey in Dawson’s Creek and is also found in a current show called Fringe. Jackson was overjoyed by his victory looking far more suprised by the win than the press covering the event. In his acceptance speech, he expressed his love of Canadian cinema along with the joys of winning such an honuor in his home country. He also discussed the truly Canadian voice in the film and how “it could not be made in any other country”. He also mentioned his acting career and admitted he his role in Dawson’s Creek played an important role in his career as an actor.

The other big winners of the night were the film Fifty Dead Men Walking, walking away with two genie awards including Achievement in Art Direction along with Best Adapted Screenplay. The film deals with subject matter outside of its borders and was an exciting peace of cinema. It depicts a tumultuous time in Ireland and the IRA. The script writer, Kari Skogland, accepted the awards and expressed her joy the film was and his excitement it was recognized by the academy. She went on to say that the film was a “microcosm of any conflict”. The film was a thoughtful look at violence, not for the sake of the excitement but to see the struggles everyone during the period had to face.

The biggest controversy of the night was the absent winner of the Claude Jutra Award, Xavier Dolan, director of the film J’ai Tue Ma Mere (I Killed My Mother). Kevin Tierney, who accepted the award on Dolan’s behalf, expressed Xavier’s concerns with the genies this year. The overall issue was that J’ai Tue Ma Mere wasn’t offered any other nominations other than for the Claude Jutra Award, which is presented to a new director with the best film of the year. Kevin expressed Xavier’s outrage about this and announced that it was the reason he was not there to accept the award himself. Outrage, though, was not apparent for the rest of the evening, but was luring from the speech Kevin give in the pressroom.

Other winners include, Runaway/ Train for Best Animated short, Best Live Action Short Drama—Danse Macabre, Best Feature Length Documentary—A Hard Name. For the full list of winners please see the list below. Everyone who was nominated, along with everyone in the film industry, should be proud. The Genie Award show displays Canada’s strengths in film, and also how, with every passing year, the films live up to the years before and the film industry as a whole.

30th Annual Genie Award Winners

BEST MOTION PICTURE / MEILLEUR FILM

POLYTECHNIQUE - Maxime Rémillard, Don Carmody

ACHIEVEMENT IN ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN / MEILLEURE DIRECTION

ARTISTIQUE

EVE STEWART - Fifty Dead Men Walking

ACHIEVEMENT IN COSTUME DESIGN / MEILLEURS COSTUMES

ATUAT AKITTIRQ - Before Tomorrow

ACHIEVEMENT IN CINEMATOGRAPHY / MEILLEURES IMAGES

PIERRE GILL - Polytechnique

ACHIEVEMENT IN DIRECTION / MEILLEURE RÉALISATION

DENIS VILLENEUVE - Polytechnique

ACHIEVEMENT IN EDITING / MEILLEUR MONTAGE

RICHARD COMEAU - Polytechnique

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKE-UP / MEILLEURS MAQUILLAGES

DJINA CARON, ANDRÉ DUVAL - Grande ourse: La clé des possibles / The Master Key

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC - ORIGINAL SCORE / MEILLEURE MUSIQUE ORIGINALE

NORMAND CORBEIL - Grande ourse: La clé des possibles / The Master Key

ACHIEVEMENT IN MUSIC - ORIGINAL SONG / MEILLEURE CHANSON ORIGINALE

JOHN WELSMAN, CHERIE CAMP - NURSE.FIGHTER.BOY – “Oh Love”

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE / INTERPRÉTATION

MASCULINE DANS UN PREMIER RÔLE

JOSHUA JACKSON - One Week

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE / INTERPRÉTATION

MASCULINE DANS UN RÔLE DE SOUTIEN

MAXIM GAUDETTE - Polytechnique

PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE / INTERPRÉTATION

FÉMININE DANS UN PREMIER RÔLE

KARINE VANASSE - Polytechnique

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PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE / INTERPRÉTATION FÉMININE DANS

UN RÔLE DE SOUTIEN

MARTHA BURNS - Love & Savagery

ACHIEVEMENT IN OVERALL SOUND / MEILLEUR SON D'ENSEMBLE

STÉPHANE BERGERON, PIERRE BLAIN, JO CARON, BENOÎT LEDUC - Polytechnique

ACHIEVEMENT IN SOUND EDITING / MEILLEUR MONTAGE SONORE

CLAUDE BEAUGRAND, GUY FRANCOEUR, CAROLE GAGNON, CHRISTIAN RIVEST - Polytechnique

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY / MEILLEUR SCÉNARIO

JACQUES DAVIDTS - Polytechnique

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY / MEILLEURE ADAPTATION

KARI SKOGLAND - Fifty Dead Men Walking

BEST FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY / MEILLEUR LONG MÉTRAGE DOCUMENTAIRE

A HARD NAME - Alan Zweig, Kristina McLaughlin, Michael McMahon

BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY / MEILLEUR COURT MÉTRAGE DOCUMENTAIRE

THE DELIAN MODE - Kara Blake, Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT DRAMA / MEILLEUR COURT MÉTRAGE DRAMATIQUE

DANSE MACABRE - Pedro Pires, Catherine Chagnon

BEST ANIMATED SHORT / MEILLEUR COURT MÉTRAGE D'ANIMATION

RUNAWAY / TRAIN EN FOLIE - Cordell Barker, Derek Mazur, Michael Scott

SPECIAL AWARDS

ACADEMY SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Mel Hoppenheim

CLAUDE JUTRA AWARD

XAVIER DOLAN – J’ai tué ma mère / I Killed My Mother

GOLDEN REEL AWARD

De père en flic / Father and Guns – Denise Robert, Daniel Louis, (Distributor: Alliance Vivafilm)