Canadian nominees get ready for Oscar night

by Charlie Smith on February 24th, 2013 at 9:10 AM

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Two British Columbians and four other Canadians are nominated for seven Academy Awards, which will be presented tonight in Hollywood.

Salt Spring Island set decorator Jim Erickson is up for best production design along with Rick Carter for their work on Lincoln, which has 12 nominations.

Meanwhile, Vancouver artist Guillaume Rocheron is nominated along with Bill Westenhofer, Erik-Jan De Boer, and Donald R. Elliott for best visual effects for Life of Pi.

Toronto-born composer Mychael Danna is a finalist for best song ("Pi's Lullaby") and best original score for Life of Pi.

Ang Lee's film, which is based on the best-selling book by Canadian author Yann Martel, is up for 11 awards.

(One of the stars of Life of Pi, Indian actor Tabu, joined Martel at the Indian Summer festival in Vancouver in 2011. Video of the two of them is available here.)

The highest profile nomination went to Quebec director Kim Nguyen's Rebelle (known as War Witch in English) for best foreign film. It's a movie about an African child solder.

Canada also has three nominees in best short film (live action).

Halifax producer Ariel Nasr along with Sam French are among the finalists for Buzkashi Boys. It's about two Afghan boys—a blacksmith's son and an orphan—who want to win a photography competition.

Canadian Mino Jarjoura produced Asad with Bryan Buckley. It's about a Somali boy who must choose between becoming a pirate or a fisherman.

Jarjoura opened the Hungry Man office in Toronto in 2001 before moving to Los Angeles, where he won an Emmy in 2012 for his work with Ellen DeGeneres.

And Quebec actor-turned-director Yan England is also a nominee best short film (live action) for Henry, which is about an elderly concert pianist in search of his wife.

The entire list of Oscar nominees is available here.