Friday, February 29, 2008

 

The Genies Reply

And another thing: the creators didn't even submit Juno for a Genie. Hard to be snubbed if you don't even ask.

(From Perezhilton.com)
Update: A publicist for the Genie awards just sent us the following statement.

"Thanks so much for your coverage of the Genie Awards but I would like to clear up the confusion surrounding the movie Juno. The movie wasn’t snubbed by the Genies because it was never submitted to the Genie Awards. I have provided below a quote from our CEO, Sara Morton that will hopefully clarify the situation.

Juno is an excellent film and the Academy salutes its success, which reflects the work of many talented Canadians both in front of and behind the camera. Regrettably, the filmmakers decided not to enter the film into the Genie Awards.

In order to be eligible for the Genies, a film must be Canadian, as defined by CAVCO and the CRTC. These are the accepted industry standards for recognizing a film as Canadian.

Ultimately, it's up to the filmmaker to decide whether to seek Canadian certification. It would not be appropriate for me to speculate about the reasons for a filmmaker's decision, or why they may or may not qualify."

Thursday, February 28, 2008

 

Nationality of Film Irks Knob

This guy writes an article about how the film Juno is not considered Canadian by the Genies, Canada's national film awards. This isn't the first article written by him on the subject, but this seems to be the first that has made it to the New York Times (hardly the forum for crying about Canada). The irked knob reduces the debate over defining national cinemas to his own simple, Sarrisian logic, namely "there's Canadians, it must be Canadian."

It's a bigger issue, one that the knob doesn't care to acknowledge. Didn't the knob notice that the Oscars nominated Juno for best picture, not best foreign film as they typically do for Canadian films (think Denys Arcand and Atom Egoyan); so they must have considered it non-Canadian too. And how does the author handle the fact that Deepa Mehta is not Canadian but Indian - how could her films be considered Canadian? God, what a horrid system we have.

Bottom line - look at the production. look at who produced it, who financed it, who owns it. Films are not like biological children; they don't inherit the qualities of their direct parents. That's mainly because there are no direct parents. Films are collaborations, and therefore distinguishing the country of origin can be difficult. Articles written in the style of the irked knob do not do the system any favors. In fact, they could impede the system by raising flags where none need to be raised. In a subsidy-heavy country like Canada, impedance is the mother of prevention.

Just shut up and enjoy the movie, and remember that awards shows are not true mirrors of reality.

Monday, February 25, 2008

 

Star Wars according to a 3 year old.

very funny


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