We thought the awards season was finally over, but as so often happens here at the Screengrab, we forgot all about our fine neighbors to the north. Yes, there are Canadian movie awards, too. They’re called the Genies, and they were handed out last night in Toronto. The big winners were Away From Her and Eastern Promises, each snagging seven Genies.
Sarah Polley’s directorial debut captured the top prizes: Away From Her won for best picture, director, actress (Julie Christie), actor (Gordon Pinsent), supporting actress (Kristen Thomson) and adapted screenplay (Polley again). According to the Globe and Mail, Pinsent had high praise for both Polley and Christie. “Julie also left me with a gift of some sort. We had this way too short canoodling love story, and before leaving the bed, she'd tap me on the shoulder and say, 'Well done, Gordon.' Well, that's on the resume.”
David Cronenberg’s latest cleaned up in many of the remaining categories, including original screenplay, supporting actor (Armin Mueller-Stahl) and original score (Howard Shore), among others. Eastern Promises executive producer Robert Lantos took the opportunity to comment on a pending amendment to the Canadian Income Tax Act that could limit government funding of controversial material, saying “this screenplay is chockfull of powerful, frank, honest, original scenes. Just the kind that, if some barbarians have their way, are no longer going to be permissible in Canadian cinema.”
On a lighter note, host Sandra Oh confirmed what we’ve long suspected: that everyone in Canada knows each other. “David Cronenberg, I played your wife in the movie Last Night. And Molly Parker, I dated your brother-in-law for three years. Totally true.”