B.C.’s celebrities and talent turned out to converge at the Westin Bayshore this weekend for the Leo Awards, consisting of two days of ceremonies to honour the best of B.C.’s film and television industry.

While technical awards were given out on Friday (May 8) at the Celebration Awards, acting and directing awards were bestowed on Saturday (May 9) at the Gala Awards.

Down the Gala Awards red carpet strolled the glamourous likes of Steph Song (Dim Sum Funeral) in a luminous royal blue gown accented by gold jewelry, Camille Sullivan (Mothers&Daughters) in a sleek dress consisting of dark blue ribbon-straps encircling her body over a white layer underneath, and many more.

(I ended up sitting at a table with The Express’s Johanna Ward and fashion designer Chloí« Angus, who designed the flowing gowns of the women who assisted with the trophy presentations.)

The Gala Awards evening was hosted by twin brothers, illusionist Jonanthan Silver Scott and actor-director-producer Drew Scott. Music was provided by Robson Arms regular Zac Santiago, who served as DJ.

The evening’s theme was “the magic of the industry”, but there was more focus on dance with interludes between awards by hip-hop and salsa dancers.

Corner Gas, which concluded after six seasons on the air last month, won the best comedy series, and Nancy Robertson from the show (who was up against costars Brent Butt, who was in attendance to accept the previous award, and Gabrielle Miller) won best performance in a comedy series.

Carts of Darkness, Murray Siple's documentary about binners who ride shopping carts down North Vancouver’s steep hills, scooped up the best documentary award.

Gabrielle Rose (Mothers&Daughters) won best guest performance by a female for her appearance on Sancutary. Rose later presented the best supporting performance by a male to vivacious Chang Tseng of Dim Sum Funeral. Meanwhile, Lauren Lee Smith garnered best supporting female performance for her work in Helen.

Rose’s Mothers&Daughters costar Babz Chula won the best lead performance by a female, and later presented the best director award for feature length drama. The competitors for this award—which included David Wu (Iron Road), Gary Harvey (Playing For Keeps), Martin Wood (Stargate Continuum), and Charles Martin Smith (Stone of Destiny)—drew some of the loudest cheers of the night.

Ultimately, it went to Anne Wheeler for Living Out Loud, about a woman diagnosed with breast cancer (Chula also starred in the film).

Being Erica star Erin Karpluk presented the best lead in a dramatic series awards. Best male went to Tyler Labine for Reaper (VIFF–goers may have seen his performance in the computer sex comedy Control Alt Delete, which may have a theatrical run later this year) while best female went to Amanda Tapping for Sancutary.

Michael Shanks won best lead performance by a male in a feature length drama for Stargate Continuum (which had 11 nominations) and Stargate Altantis (16 nominations) won best dramatic series (beating Reaper and Smallville). The Stargate creators Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright received outstanding achievement awards for their work on the Stargate franchise.

Stunt coordinator Jacob Rupp also won an outstanding achivement award for his extensive work on productions ranging from The Beachcombers and Neon Rider to Scary Movie and X2: X-Men United.

Baljit Sangra (who also directed Warrior Boyz, which was up for three awards and also played at last year's DOXA film festival) received the $10,000 Omni Television Diversity in Cultures Award for her project The Coconuts. Shifting from analyzing the roots of gang membership, Sandra said she and Nimisha Mukerji are taking a lighthearted look at second generation South Asian Canadians.

The best feature length drama award went to Fifty Dead Men Walking (directed by Kari Skogland), which will be released in theatres later this year. The film beat out Helen, Iron Road, Stone of Destiny, and When Life Was Good.

Prior to winning her award, Chula jokingly said that there shouldn’t be only one winner really because then there are (pause) losers (to much laughter). However, she did want to emphasize that being nominated was an honour in itself, considering how diverse the nominated projects were.

A full list of winners are available at the Leo Awards Web site.