It was Canada’s turn for glitz and glamour last night as the red carpet rolled out for The 31st Annual Genie Awards, Canada’s biggest night in film. Awards were handed out at the National Arts Center in our nation’s capital last night and hosted by icon and current funnyman William Shatner. The televised event on CBC only lasted a meager 1 hour, whereas the entire ceremony itself was an hour and a half. Several awards were already given out prior to the telecast, cutting to the chase for the night’s biggest contenders. The night’s biggest winners were also the ones who dominated the nominations: Incendies and Barney’s Version
Quebec’s critically and commercially successful Incendies took home the night’s top honor for Best Motion Picture, writer/director Denis Villeneuve snatched up honors for Achievement in Direction and Adapted Screenplay and star of the film Lubna Azabal was left speechless as she received the award for Actress in a Leading Role. Barney’s Version walked away with 3 of the major acting awards which included: Actor in a Leading Role, Actor in a Supporting Role and Actress in a Supporting Role respectively awarded to Paul Giamatti, Dustin Hoffman and Minnie Driver, all of whom were absent due to prior commitments (but Giamatti did have co-star Rachelle Lefevre read an acceptance speech on his behalf). The film also picked up the gold for several technical awards for Make-Up and Costume Design among others.
Not to be outdone, Montreal made The Trotsky’s Jacob Tierney walked away with the award for Original Screenplay while star and Montreal native Jay Baruchel snapped up the User’s Choice Award (votes were submitted by the public online for this). Browse fhe full list of winners after the jump!
• Best Motion Picture: Incendies
• Art Direction: Claude Pare, Elise de Blois, Barney’s Version
• Cinematography: Andre Turpin, Incendies
• Costume Design: Nicoletta Massone, Barney’s Version
• Direction: Denis Villeneuve, Incendies
• Editing: Monique Dartonne, Incendies
• Make-Up: Adrien Morot, Rejean Goderre, Valli O’Reilly, Micheline Trepanier, Barney’s Version
• Music – Original Score: Pasquale Catalano, Barney’s Version
• Music – Original Song: Already Gone, Mnary Milne, The Trotsky
• Actor in a leading role: Paul Giamatti, Barney’s Version
• Actor in a supporting role: Dustin Hoffman, Barney’s Version
• Actress in a leading role: Lubna Azabal, Incendies
• Actress in a supporting role: Minnie Driver, Barney’s Version
• Overall sound: Jean Umansky, Jocelyn Caron, Jean-Pierre LaForce, Benoid Leduc, Incendies
• Sound editing: Sylvain Bellemare, Simon Meilleur, Claire Pochon, Incendies
• Adapted screenplay: Denis Villeneuve, Incendies
• Original screenplay: Jacob Tierney, The Trotsky
• Documentary: Last Train Home, Lixin Fan, Mila Aung-Thwin, Daniel Cross
• Live Action Short Drama: Savage, Lisa Jackson, Lauren Grant, Lori Lozinski
• Animated Short: Lipsett Diaries, Theodore Ushev, Marc Bertrand
• Claude Jutra Award (best first feature): Jephte Bastien, Sortie 67 (Honourable mention: Peter Stebbings, Defendor)
• Golden Reel Award (for highest Canadian box office): Resident Evil: Afterlife
• User’s Choice Award: Jay Baruchel