31st Genie Awards: Barney's Version, Incendies lead nominees

The best of Canadian film from 2010 were named in nominations for the 31st annual Genie Awards, announced this morning in Toronto and Montreal.

Barney's Version, Richard J. Lewis' adaptation of Mordecai Richler's novel, led with 11 nominations, including best motion picture. Paul Giamatti, who won the Golden Globe award for best actor (in a comedy or musical), is up for best lead actor. Costars Dustin Hoffman, Minnie Driver, and Rosamund Pike are also up for best acting awards.

Incendies, which received an Oscar nomination for best foreign language film, followed closely behind with 10 Genie nominations, including best picture and best director (Denis Villeneuve).

Barney's Version and Incendies will compete against Les amours imaginaires (Heartbeats) by Xavier Dolan, sci-fi flick Splice, and 10 ½.

Among the nominees with connections to Vancouver or B.C. are:
Ӣ Sonja Bennett for best supporting actress for Carl Bessai's Cole;
Ӣ Callum Keith Rennie for best supporting actor for Gunless;
Ӣ Molly Parker for best lead actress for Bruce McDonald's rock 'n' roll drama Trigger;
Ӣ Leave Them Laughing, a documentary about the late Carla Zilbersmith, a singer-actress-comedian with ALS, directed by local director John Zaritsky;
Ӣ Vic Sarin, Dennis Foon, and Catherine Spear for best adapted screenplay for the Irish family drama A Shine of Rainbows;
Ӣ Vancouver-raised Sook-Yin Lee, along with Buck 65 and Adam Litovitz, is up for best original score for Year of the Carnivore.

Resident Evil: Afterlife will receive the Golden Reel Award for grossing $7,026,559 in 2010. It grossed $280 million worldwide and became the most successful production in Canadian film history.

The awards will be broadcast on CBC from the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on March 10. For a full list of nominees in French or English, visit the Genie Awards website.

Congratulations and félicitations to all the nominees.