While "Monsieur Lazhar" fell short on the world stage, the Oscar-nominated film did win 6 Genies, Canada's movie awards, last night in Toronto.
The film won Best Picture and editing. Director Philippe Falardeau won for director and adapted screenplay. The two acting awards went to Mohamed Fellag (actor) and 11-year-old Sophie Nélisse (supporting actress).
David Cronenberg's "A Dangerous Method" took home 5 Genies, including Viggo Mortensen (supporting actor) and Oscar-nominated Howard Shore (original score).
Vanessa Paradis won the best actress award for "Café de Flore," which won 3 Genies overall. "Starbuck" won for original screenplay and original song; the film also won the Cineplex Golden Reel Award for topping the Canadian box office in 2011 at $3.5 million.
All but the Cronenberg movie were featured in our coverage of the 2011 Windsor International Film Festival.
If you look purely at the Oscars and Genies, the similar pattern is that major awards didn't always rdsgo to Americans/Canadians. Of the 4 major acting awards, 3 of them were from outside Canada. Fellag is from Algeria, Paradis (think Johnny Deep's SO) is from France, and Mortensen is from the U.S. Then again, Canadian Christopher Plummer won an Oscar. This is just the world of film we live in today: cross-pollination.
Nélisse did a really good job in this movie, especially since she was 10 when the film was made. While "Café de Flore" didn't win as many awards, in a year without "Monsieur Lazhar," it would have won more Genies.
This was the 32nd annual Genies held in Toronto. Andrea Martin ("SCTV") was supposed to co-host with CBC late-night host George Stroumboulopoulos, but had to pull out at the last minute due to prior commitments. The program is carried on the CBC, so those Americans that can pull in a signal can watch along with Canadians.
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