‘C.R.A.Z.Y’ a favourite going into Genie awards
Jean-Marc Vall√àe’s C.R.A.Z.Y. and Deepa Mehta’s Water are the leading contenders for awards at Monday night’s 2006 Genie Awards.
Vall√àe’s coming-of-age story about a young man growing up in 1960s and 1970s Quebec won a leading 12 nominations.
The awards gala for the best of Canadian cinema will be held Monday evening in Toronto.
C.R.A.Z.Y. has already won the Golden Reel award, given annually for the film with the best box office take in Canada. It grossed $6.2 million in 2005.
Water, about an eight-year-old widow who shakes up a widows’ ashram in 1940s India, has nine nominations, including best picture and best director for Mehta.
It is competing for the best picture award with C.R.A.Z.Y., It’s All Gone Pete Tong, Saint Ralph and Familia.
Familia, a debut feature film from Quebec’s Louise Archambault, is already guaranteed recognition.
Archambault has won the Claude Jutra Award for most promising young filmmaker for her drama about two mothers and their daughters. The award is named after Quebec film director Claude Jutra.
She also has been nominated for best director, along with Mehta, Vall√àe, Michael Dowse for It’s All Gone Pete Tong, and Luc Picard for L’Audition, about a mob enforcer who wants to become an actor.
Two actresses from Familia are nominated in the best actress category √≥ Macha Grenon and Sylvie Moreau. They’ll be competing against Water’s Seema Biswas, Arsin√àe Khanjian from Sabah – A Love Story and Gina Chiarelli from See Grace Fly.
Quebec’s vibrant movie industry is well represented among the nominees, with L’Audition and Familia earning seven nominations each. There were also strong showings from Aurore, Luc Dionne’s film about a village that looks the other way as a young girl is mistreated and eventually killed, and Le Survenant, Eric Canuel’s film about a stranger who disrupts life in a country village.
Two of the actors from C.R.A.Z.Y. are nominated for best actor √≥ Michel C√ôt√à, who plays the boys’ father, and Marc-Andr√à Grondin, who plays the gay son who is influenced fashion-wise by David Bowie. Also nominated are Luc Picard from L’Audition, Paul Kaye as the deaf DJ from the mockumentary It’s All Gone Pete Tong and Adam Butcher as the boy who seeks out a miracle for his mother in Saint Ralph.
The Genie Awards are administered by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television; they were founded in 1979 to promote and celebrate the growing Canadian film industry. The first Genie Awards, held at Toronto’s Royal Alexandra Theatre, took place on March 20, 1980.
A one-hour special of the awards gala will be broadcast on CityTV, Star!, Bravo! and MusicMax.
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