Genie Awards 2009: PASSCHENDAELE Wins Best Picture

In a bizarre twist, the Canadian Academy of Film & Television chose Passchendaele, Paul Gross‘ flag-waving World War I melodrama about Canadian valor, as the best Canadian film of 2008. I say bizarre because even though Passchendaele was in the running for a best film Genie Award, neither its screenplay nor (writer-)director Gross had even been nominated (though Gross, who didn’t attend the ceremony as he was filming in Los Angeles, managed to get a best actor nod).
Passchendaele won five other awards: best art direction, costume design, sound, sound editing, and a special prize for the most (financially) successful Canadian film of the year.
Passchendaele has been hailed by some as a Canadian blockbuster to rival Hollywood productions, but [...]

Genie Awards 2009

2009 Genie Awards
2009 Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television’s Genie Award nominations: Feb. 10, 2009
2009 Genie Award winners: Ottawa, April 4, 2009
("*" denotes the winner in each category)
 

 

BEST MOTION PICTURE / MEILLEUR FILM
Amal – David Miller, Steven Bray
Ce qu’il faut pour vivre / The Necessities of Life – Bernadette Payeur, René Chénier
Normal – Andrew Boutilier, Carl Bessai
* Passchendaele – Niv Fichman, Francis Damberger, Paul Gross, Frank Siracusa
Tout est Parfait / Everything is Fine – Nicole Robert
BEST DOCUMENTARY / MEILLEUR DOCUMENTAIRE
INFINIMENT QUÉBEC – Jean-Claude Labrecque, Yves Fortin, Christian Medawar
MY WINNIPEG – Guy Maddin, Phyllis Laing, Jody Shapiro
* UP THE YANGTZE – Yung Chang, Mila Aung-Thwin, John Christou, Germaine Ying-Gee Wong
BEST DIRECTION [...]

Jutra Awards 2009

2009 Prix Jutra
2009 Jutra Award nominations: Feb. 17, 2009
2009 Jutra Award winners: March 29, 2009
(”*” denotes the winner in each category)
 

Ce qu’il faut pour vivre / The Necessities of Life, the 2009 winner of the Prix Jutra for best film, tells the story of an Inuit hunter (best actor winner Natar Ungalaaq) suffering from tuberculosis who is sent to a sanatorium in the Quebec City of the early 1950s. The hunter’s condition is worsened by the clash of cultures, but a bicultural boy helps him to bridge the gap between the two different worldviews. Directed by Benoît Pilon from a screenplay by Bernard Émond (with Pilon’s assistance), The Necessities of Life was Canada’s submission for [...]