Yesterday evening (March 10) at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, the film Incendies by Denis Villeneuve, won eight trophies at the 31st Genie Awards, hosted by William Shatner, reports the National Post.
Incendies, nominated for a Best Foreign Language film at the recent Academy Awards lost out to the Danish film In a Better World. In Canada, however the film won big at the Genie Awards, picking up best film, best director, best adapted screenplay, best cinematography, best editing, best overall sound and best Sound Editing, and best actress for Lubna Azabal.
"I immediately thought it was an amazing project," Azabal said. "I knew it would be difficult and a big challenge to me to go through this journey and to understand this woman. But I just jumped. I’m like that."
This is the second consecutive year that Villeneuve has won big at the gala. Last year, his film Polytechnique picked up nine Genies.
Barney’s Version, the film adapatation of Mordecai Richler’s novel of the same name, starring Paul Giamatti, also won big, taking home seven Genies, including best actor for Giamatti, best supporting actor for Dustin Hoffman, and best supporting actress for Minnie Driver.
"I’m particularly happy, because I think I can take this as a sign that I’m not the American guy who screwed this whole thing up for Canada and Canadians," said Giamatti in statement. Although he was unable to attend the ceremony, his thanks also included the Richler family, "who took in and looked after a stray cat of an actor and made him feel deeply at ease and at home."
The award for best original screenplay was awarded to Jacob Tierney for The Trotsky. Jephte Bastien received the Claude Jutra Award for best first feature for Sortie 67. The Golden Reel Award for highest box office went to Resident Evil: Afterlife with revenues of more than $7 million in Canada.