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Canadian directors award nods announced, gala dinner to be held Oct. 1
By John Mckay
Canadian Press
Friday, August 05, 2005
TORONTO (CP) - Jerry Ciccoritti, one of Canada's workhorse filmmakers,
has been nominated in both the feature film and TV movie categories
for the 2005 Directors Guild of Canada awards.
Ciccoritti, whose latest project, the Shania Twain biopic, will air
on CBC-TV in October, was nominated for one of his personal works,
the minimalist drama Blood, and for directing Sophia Loren in CTV's
epic miniseries Lives of the Saints.
The Directors Guild awards will be handed out at a gala dinner Oct.
1, MCed by former SCTV comic Joe Flaherty.
Other film director nominees include Jim Donovan for Pure, Michael
McGowan for Saint Ralph and Lewin Webb for The Good Shepherd. Other
contenders in the TV movie/miniseries category are Charles Biname for
the CBC political thriller H20, Michael DeCarlo for an instalment of
the Murdoch Mysteries and Kari Skogland for the hockey tale Chicks
With Sticks. H20 got four other nominations: team achievement,
production design and picture and sound editing.
In series television, contenders include Ken Finkleman for an episode
of his Newsroom parody series on CBC, Don McBrearty for an episode
of the pay-cable bio-thriller ReGenesis, and Mina Shum and Stephen
Surjik for Da Vinci's Inquest.
More than 100 jury members screened nearly 400 submissions and came
up with 79 nominations in 20 categories. And the nods were spread
widely across the industry with few entries getting more than a couple.
Guild president Alan Goluboff says this year's nominations include
a wide range of veterans and new filmmakers across the country.
"Next year's going to be slightly different because (Atom) Egoyan's
going to have a film, (David) Cronenberg . . . I mean everybody under
the sun is going to have a film out next year," says Goluboff who
adds that it was a particularly lean year for Canadian cinema.
"Canadian production is down," he says, "in my view due to particular
government policies that have continued to make it very difficult
for filmmakers to work in this country."
Goluboff concedes he has a political agenda in complaining that
government doesn't feel concerned about a drop in Canadian production.
"We're all losers because of that as Canadians," he says. "But in
spite of that filmmakers, artists, will find ways to get their films
made and these awards in part reflect that."
Blood, also nominated for picture editing, was an experimental film
by Ciccoritti featuring only two characters in a room and shot in
real time on digital video. It was screened at last year's Toronto
International Film Festival. Lives of the Saints was an international
co-production featuring Loren and a cast of Italian-Canadians in an
epic family drama based on a series of novels by Canadian writer
Nino Ricci. It was also nominated in one of the Directors Guild
team achievement categories and for production design and best sound
editing.
Along with Lives of the Saints, Saint Ralph, the touching story of a
Canadian teen who enters the 1954 Boston Marathon as a tribute to his
ailing mother, was also nominated for outstanding team achievement,
production design and sound editing.
Don McKellar's Childstar was a triple nominee, for team achievement,
and picture and sound editing. Istvan Szabo's Being Julia received
nods for both picture and sound editing. The Robert Lantos-produced
feature netted star Annette Bening a best-actress Oscar nomination
this past year.
The Directors Guild of Canada awards this year will honour the
late Daniel Petrie Sr. (The Bay Boy, Fort Apache the Bronx) with a
lifetime achievement award, and former guild president Alan Erlich
with a distinguished service award.
On the web: www.dgc.ca
© The Canadian Press 2005
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By John Mckay
Canadian Press
Friday, August 05, 2005
TORONTO (CP) - Jerry Ciccoritti, one of Canada's workhorse filmmakers,
has been nominated in both the feature film and TV movie categories
for the 2005 Directors Guild of Canada awards.
Ciccoritti, whose latest project, the Shania Twain biopic, will air
on CBC-TV in October, was nominated for one of his personal works,
the minimalist drama Blood, and for directing Sophia Loren in CTV's
epic miniseries Lives of the Saints.
The Directors Guild awards will be handed out at a gala dinner Oct.
1, MCed by former SCTV comic Joe Flaherty.
Other film director nominees include Jim Donovan for Pure, Michael
McGowan for Saint Ralph and Lewin Webb for The Good Shepherd. Other
contenders in the TV movie/miniseries category are Charles Biname for
the CBC political thriller H20, Michael DeCarlo for an instalment of
the Murdoch Mysteries and Kari Skogland for the hockey tale Chicks
With Sticks. H20 got four other nominations: team achievement,
production design and picture and sound editing.
In series television, contenders include Ken Finkleman for an episode
of his Newsroom parody series on CBC, Don McBrearty for an episode
of the pay-cable bio-thriller ReGenesis, and Mina Shum and Stephen
Surjik for Da Vinci's Inquest.
More than 100 jury members screened nearly 400 submissions and came
up with 79 nominations in 20 categories. And the nods were spread
widely across the industry with few entries getting more than a couple.
Guild president Alan Goluboff says this year's nominations include
a wide range of veterans and new filmmakers across the country.
"Next year's going to be slightly different because (Atom) Egoyan's
going to have a film, (David) Cronenberg . . . I mean everybody under
the sun is going to have a film out next year," says Goluboff who
adds that it was a particularly lean year for Canadian cinema.
"Canadian production is down," he says, "in my view due to particular
government policies that have continued to make it very difficult
for filmmakers to work in this country."
Goluboff concedes he has a political agenda in complaining that
government doesn't feel concerned about a drop in Canadian production.
"We're all losers because of that as Canadians," he says. "But in
spite of that filmmakers, artists, will find ways to get their films
made and these awards in part reflect that."
Blood, also nominated for picture editing, was an experimental film
by Ciccoritti featuring only two characters in a room and shot in
real time on digital video. It was screened at last year's Toronto
International Film Festival. Lives of the Saints was an international
co-production featuring Loren and a cast of Italian-Canadians in an
epic family drama based on a series of novels by Canadian writer
Nino Ricci. It was also nominated in one of the Directors Guild
team achievement categories and for production design and best sound
editing.
Along with Lives of the Saints, Saint Ralph, the touching story of a
Canadian teen who enters the 1954 Boston Marathon as a tribute to his
ailing mother, was also nominated for outstanding team achievement,
production design and sound editing.
Don McKellar's Childstar was a triple nominee, for team achievement,
and picture and sound editing. Istvan Szabo's Being Julia received
nods for both picture and sound editing. The Robert Lantos-produced
feature netted star Annette Bening a best-actress Oscar nomination
this past year.
The Directors Guild of Canada awards this year will honour the
late Daniel Petrie Sr. (The Bay Boy, Fort Apache the Bronx) with a
lifetime achievement award, and former guild president Alan Erlich
with a distinguished service award.
On the web: www.dgc.ca
© The Canadian Press 2005
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