Canadian gay hit
C.R.A.Z.Y. sweeps Genie awards

A French-language gay-themed coming-of-age drama about a large Catholic family dominated Canada's Genie film awards Monday, taking home 10 prizes, including Best Film and Best Director. Jean-Marc Vallee's Quebec-made C.R.A.Z.Y. also won honors for original screenplay, actor (Michel Cote), supporting actress (Danielle Proulx), and a host of craft awards. It went into the event with 12 nominations.

The impressive showing for C.R.A.Z.Y. caps off a stellar year for Vallee. His $6-million film was the highest-grossing homegrown movie in Canada last year. It also won honors at the Toronto International Film Festival, the Atlantic Film Festival, and the AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival. The only real competition for C.R.A.Z.Y. came from Water, Deepa Mehta's Hindi-language drama about Indian widows, which grabbed trophies for best original music score, cinematography, and actress (Seema Biswas).

Denis Bernard earned the supporting actor award for his role in Luc Picard's French-language drama L'Audition. English-language Canadian movies were virtually shut out of the Genies this year. David Cronenberg's Oscar-nominated box office hit A History of Violence did not qualify for the Genies because it was U.S.-financed. Atom Egoyan's Where the Truth Lies, while qualifying for the Canadian film awards, earned only one Genie for best adapted screenplay. Michael Dowse's music-driven drama It's All Gone Pete Tong, went home empty-handed Monday night despite eight nominations.

The 26th annual Genies, organized by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, took place in Toronto and aired nationwide on the CHUM network. (Etan Vlessing, Reuters)