Nominees for the 29th Annual Genie Awards Unveiled

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television (ACCT) have announced the nominees for the 29th Annual Genie Awards. Leading the pack for the awards honoring the best in Canadian film was "The Necessities of Life". The movie about an Inuit hunter stranded in a Quebec hospital collected eight gongs, including best picture, best director for Benoit Pilon and best original screenplay for Bernard Emond.

In the category of best pictures, Pilon's film will be up against "Amal", "Normal", "Passchendaele" and "Everything Is Fine". Meanwhile, for the best original screenplay title, it placed Bernard Emond in competition with Deepa Mehta of "Heaven on Earth", Travis McDonald of "Normal", Randall Cole of "Real Time" and Guillaume Vigneault of "Everything Is Fine".

While "The Necessities of Life" took the most nominations, "Fugitive Pieces", the Samuel Goldwyn Films drama based on best-selling novel by Canadian poet Anne Michaels grabbed six nods. Some of the nominations the Jeremy Podeswa's film landed include best supporting actress and actor for Rosamund Pike and Rade Sherbedgia respectively, as well as best adapted screenplay for Podeswa.

The nominations of the 29th Genie Awards were announced by veteran actor Gordon Pinsent and Quebec entertainer Caroline Neron on Tuesday, February 10. The awards ceremony itself will be held on April 4 at the Canada Aviation Museum. It will mark the first time the ceremony is being held outside of Toronto or Montreal. The complete list of the 29th Genie Awards nominees can be read at Genie Awards.

List of key nominees for the 29th Genie Awards:

Best Motion Picture:

• "Amal"
• "The Necessities of Life"
• "Normal"
• "Passchendaele"
• "Everything Is Fine"

• Richie Mehta, "Amal"
• Lyne Charlebois, "Borderline"
• Benoit Pilon, "The Necessities of Life"
• Carl Bessai, "Normal"
• Yves-Christian Fournier, "Everything Is Fine"

• Paul Gross, "Passchendaele"
• Rupinder Nagra, "Amal"
• Christopher Plummer, "Emotional Arithmetic"
• Aaron Poole, "This Beautiful City"
• Natar Ungalaaq, "The Necessities of Life"

• Isabelle Blais, "Borderline"
• Ellen Burstyn, "The Stone Angel"
• Marianne Fortier, "Mommy is at the Hairdresser's"
• Susan Sarandon, "Emotional Arithmetic"
• Preity Zinta, "Heaven on Earth"

• Normand D'Amour, "Everything Is Fine"
• Benoit McGinnis, "Le banquet"
• Callum Keith Rennie, "Normal"
• Rade Sherbedgia, "Fugitive Pieces"
• Max Von Sydow, "Emotional Arithmetic"

• Celine Bonnier, "Mommy is at the Hairdresser's"
• Kristin Booth, "Young People Fucking"
• Eveline Gelinas, "The Necessities of Life"
• Anie Pascale, "Everything Is Fine"
• Rosamund Pike, "Fugitive Pieces"

• Bernard Emond, "The Necessities of Life"
• Deepa Mehta, "Heaven on Earth"
• Travis McDonald, "Normal"
• Randall Cole, "Real Time"
• Guillaume Vigneault, "Everything Is Fine"

• Richie Mehta and Shaun Mehta, "Amal"
• Marie-Sissi LaBreche and Lyne Charlebois, "Borderline"
• Jeremy Podeswa, "Fugitive Pieces"