Atanarjuat, War Bride lead Genie list Add to ...

Atanarjuat ( The Fast Runner), the first Canadian feature film written, produced, directed and acted by Inuit, and The War Bride,a story of a young British woman who spends the war years living among her soldier husband's hostile family in Alberta, have topped this year's Genie Award nominations -- each winning seven.

They were closely followed by Bruce Sweeney's Last Wedding (with six) and Eisenstein, La femme qui boit and Treed Murray (five each).

Nominations were announced yesterday in Toronto by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.

Atanarjuat -- which won best Canadian feature at the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival, was a co-winner of the Guardian Award for best new director at the 2001 Edinburgh International Film Festival and won the Camera d'or for best first feature film at Cannes -- was directed by Zacharias Kunuk and produced by Paul Apak Angilirq.

Based on Inuit oral tradition, it's about two brothers who must do battle with an unknown shaman. It is nominated for best motion picture, best direction, best screenplay (Angilirq), best editing (Kunuk, Norman Cohn and Marie-Christine Sarda), best musical score (Chris Crilly), best costume design (Atuat Akkitirq) and best overall sound (Richard Lavoie, Serge Boivin, Jean-Paul Vialard).

The War Bride,starring Anna Friel, Brenda Fricker and Molly Parker, and directed by Lyndon Chubbok, was nominated for best picture, best leading actress (Freil), best supporting actor (Loren Dean), best supporting actress (Fricker and Parker), best art direction (Ken Rempel) and best costume design (Howard Burden).

Last Wedding,a comedy about three thirtysomething couples in Vancouver, earned nominations for best supporting actor (Vincent Gale and Tom Scholte), best supporting actress (Molly Parker and Marya Delver), best editing (Ross Weber) and best art direction (Tony Devenyi).

Eisenstein,a biopic about the life of the great Russian film director shot on location in Ukraine, Russia and Mexico, was nominated for best film, best direction (Renny Bartlett), best screenplay (Bartlett), best editing (Wiebke von Carolsfeld) and best original score (Alexander Balanescu).

The story of a middle-aged woman in crisis, La femme qui boit (The Woman Who Drinks), written and directed by Bernard Émond, won nominations for direction, best leading actress (Élise Guilbault), best supporting actor (Michel Forget), best costume design (Sophie Lefebvre) and best art direction (André Line and Beau Parlant).

Treed Murray,which chronicles a night in the life of an advertising executive who flees a gang of would-be attackers by climbing a tree, was produced by Helen du Toit. It was nominated for best picture, best direction (William Phillips), best original song (James McGrath, Joel Feeny, Marc Jordan), best sound (Todd Beckett, Herwig Gayer, Bisa Scekic, Todd Warren) and best sound editing (Joe Bracciate, Kevin Banks, Stephen Barden, John Sievert and Virginia Storey).

A second Québécois film, Un crabe dans la tête (Soft Shell Man), produced by Joseph Hillel and Luc Déry, about an underwater photographer who tries to please everyone around him, was nominated for best picture, best screenplay (André Turpin), best leading actor (David La Haye) and best cinematography (Turpin).

Curiously, only two feature documentaries were nominated this year -- Obaachan's Garden,by Selwyn Jacob and Linda Ohama, and Westray by Kent Martin and Paul Cowan.

Director David Cronenberg was nominated (with Jody Shapiro) for Camera,a live-action short drama. Shapiro was nominated in the same category with Guy Maddin for The Heart of the World.

Winners will be announced at the 22nd annual Genie Awards presentation on Feb. 7, to be broadcast on CBC Television. The major categories Best Picture Atanarjuat Un crabe dans la tête Eisenstein Treed Murray The War Bride Best Director Renny Bartlett: Eisenstein Denis Chouinard: L'ange de goudron Bernard Emond: La femme qui boit Zacharias Kunuk: Atanarjuat William Phillips: Treed Murray Best Screenplay Paul Apak Angilirq: Atanarjuat Bartlett: Eisenstein Catherine Martin: Mariages Judith Thompson: Lost and Delirious André Turpin: Un crabe dans la tête Best Actor Zachary Bennett: desire Brendan Fletcher: The Law of Enclosures David La Haye: Un crabe dans la tête Peter Outerbridge: Marine Life Chris Owens: The Uncles Zinedine Soualem: L'ange de goudron Best Actress Jillian Fargey: Protection Anna Friel: The War Bride Elise Guilbault: La femme qui boit Sarah Polley: The Law of Enclosures Katja Riemann: desire Best Supporting Actor Loren Dean: The War Bride Michel Forget: La femme qui boit Vincent Gale: Last Wedding Julian Richings: The Claim Tom Scholte: Last Wedding Best Supporting Actress Marya Delver: Last Wedding Brenda Fricker: The War Bride Mimi Kuzyk: Lost and Delirious Molly Parker: Last Wedding Molly Parker: The War Bride Cinematography Thom Best: Ginger Snaps Sebastian Edschmid: Deeply Pierre Gill: Lost and Delirious David Greene: Century Hotel André Turpin: Un crabe dans la tête Best Song Simon Kendall: Parting Glass ( Lunch with Charles) Chantal Kreviazuk, Raine Maida: Can't Make It Good ( Century Hotel) James McGrath, Joel Feeney, Marc Jordan: Falling Forward ( Treed Murray) Osvaldo Montes: La niebla del tiempo ( Le ciel sur la tête) Ron Sexsmith: Love is Free ( The Art of Woo) Best Documentary Obaachan's Garden:Selwyn Jacob, Linda Ohama Westray: Kent Martin, Paul Cowan For a complete list of nominees go to

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