It’s no secret that the Canadian film industry is in bad shape. Ask your average Canadian what they think of Canadian film and chances are they’ll vomit a little bit in their mouth. Canada has had this problem for years despite the fact that the National Film Board is one of the most respected institutions in the world and Hollywood is full of actors, directors, and writers that were born and raised north of the 49^th parallel. It’s not that all Canadian film is bad (although a decent portion of it is) but it isn’t marketed properly. There’s a bunch of things the Canadian film industry should do to fix their problems. One place they should look is across the Atlantic to Britain and see how they’ve handled celebrating their film industry.

The BAFTA nominations were announced a couple of weeks ago. Basically the BAFTA awards are the UK’s equivalent to the Oscars. However, they don’t just honour British films. In fact, they’re top category of Best Film is open to films of all countries. In the last decade, half the films were American (or American co-productions with another country with no British involvement). And before someone whines about half of the winning films in the last decade being British productions (or co-productions) and that the event is more about promoting British films over the rest of the field, two of those films won the Best Picture category at the Oscars (Slumdog Millionaire and Gladiator). The other three were nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars.

So how does this promote British film if the categories are open to Hollywood productions? Intertwined with the categories like Best Film, there is also a category restricted to British films. Another thing to consider is that there are a number of British films that don’t make it across the pond for whatever reason that would give some American Oscar nominees a run for their money in categories like makeup, costume design, production design, and many others. British films are well represented in all the categories and many of them win awards over top-tier American productions.

In Canada we have the Genies. They’re an award show that nobody watches. There’s a good reason for that. Nobody has seen any of the movies that get nominated (with the exception of the Quebec films that do really well in the province). Every couple of years or so you get an English film that makes a splash and people actually care about (like Passchendaele last year). The problem though is that these films are like big fish in a small pond and end up blowing everything out of the water. It’s sort of if I went to a Grade 2 elementary school class and challenged all the kids to a quiz on Canadian and world capitals; I’d destroy them.

However, no American or British film can win the Genie for Best Motion Picture. It’s because only Canadian productions are allowed to win (the only loophole to that theoretically an international film could win if it is a co-production). If there is a poor year in Canadian film or it’s dominated by French films (which has happened on a couple of occasions recently because of Quebec’s superior film system), there’s no compelling reason for the average English-speaking Canadian to want to watch.

But there’s a huge problem. Many Canadian films with a strong amount of Canadian content are not considered eligible for the Genies because they’re not considered Canadian productions. In fact, the Genies’ official rules state that a film must be certified Canadian by CAVCO or the CRTC. What does certified Canadian mean? CAVCO has a point-based criteria to determine that as well as other qualifiers like how much of a film’s budget is spent in Canada. This is a problem for a film like 2005’s Crash which was written, directed, and co-produced by a Canadian (Paul Haggis) and also has acting talent that is Canadian (Brendan Fraser). It was also distributed in the US by Lions Gate Films, a Canadian company. This alone nets it 5 points out of 10 as part of CAVCO’s rules (a film needs at least 6 points to be considered Canadian). Despite the fact that it has strong Canadian representation, it doesn’t count as even a Canadian co-production. So while the entire world, like the Oscars and the BAFTAs were giving the film its highest honours, Canada ignored it.

The way I see it, it would not hurt the Canadian film industry to allow international production entry into all Genie categories and only restricting a few awards to Canadian-only productions. It’s not like it would hurt the image of Canadian films because nobody is watching the Genies as it is. It would actually be more beneficial to have American films involved because film companies would want their people going. It helps promote the films and since the award show is in the spring when many of the films are coming out on DVD, it would help boost sales. This means the event would become a star-studded affair. And as compelling and enriching as a three-and-a-half hour dramatic film based around the decline of the cod industry may be, more people will tune in to an awards show to see actual stars walk down the red carpet.

It’s also a win for Canadian film because a title like Passchendaele would be compared to some of the top Hollywood films. This would help raise awareness of a film that would usually be stigmatized with a label like “good for a Canadian film”. If the Genies would be treated like a world class event, top Canadian films would also be considered world class. Until then though, many will just feel that most productions are a waste of tax dollars.

Below is the list of the nominees by category for the 2009 Orange British Academy Film Awards. The official list can be found on the official site of the BAFTAs at: http://static.bafta.org/files/film-0910-nominations-424.pdf

2010 Orange British Academy Film Award Nominations

BEST FILM

• AVATAR – James Cameron, Jon Landau
• AN EDUCATION – Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey
• THE HURT LOCKER – Nominees TBC
• PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE – Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness, Gary Magness
• UP IN THE AIR – Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman, Daniel Dubiecki

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM

• AN EDUCATION – Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey, Lone Scherfig, Nick Hornby
• FISH TANK – Kees Kasander, Nick Laws, Andrea Arnold
• IN THE LOOP – Kevin Loader, Adam Tandy, Armando Iannucci, Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche
• MOON – Stuart Fenegan, Trudie Styler, Duncan Jones, Nathan Parker
• NOWHERE BOY – Robert Bernstein, Douglas Rae, Kevin Loader, Sam Taylor-Wood, Matt Greenhalgh

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER

• LUCY BAILEY, ANDREW THOMPSON, ELIZABETH MORGAN HEMLOCK, DAVID PEARSON – Directors, Producers – Mugabe and the White African
• ERAN CREEVY – Writer/Director – Shifty
• STUART HAZELDINE – Writer/Director – Exam
• DUNCAN JONES – Director – Moon
• SAM TAYLOR-WOOD – Director – Nowhere Boy

DIRECTOR

• AVATAR – James Cameron
• DISTRICT 9 – Neill Blomkamp
• AN EDUCATION – Lone Scherfig
• THE HURT LOCKER – Kathryn Bigelow
• INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS – Quentin Tarantino

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

• THE HANGOVER – Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
• THE HURT LOCKER – Mark Boal
• INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS – Quentin Tarantino
• A SERIOUS MAN – Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
• UP – Pete Docter, Bob Peterson

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

• DISTRICT 9 – Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell
• AN EDUCATION – Nick Hornby
• IN THE LOOP – Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
• PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE – Geoffrey Fletcher
• UP IN THE AIR – Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

• BROKEN EMBRACES – Agustín Almodóvar, Pedro Almodóvar
• COCO BEFORE CHANEL – Carole Scotta, Caroline Benjo, Philippe Carcassonne, Anne Fontaine
• LET THE RIGHT ONE IN – Carl Molinder, John Nordling, Tomas Alfredson
• A PROPHET – Pascal Caucheteux, Marco Cherqui, Alix Raynaud, Jacques Audiard
• THE WHITE RIBBON – Stefan Arndt, Veit Heiduschka, Margaret Menegoz, Michael Haneke

ANIMATED FILM

• CORALINE – Henry Selick
• FANTASTIC MR FOX – Wes Anderson
• UP – Pete Docter

LEADING ACTOR

• JEFF BRIDGES – Crazy Heart
• GEORGE CLOONEY – Up in the Air
• COLIN FIRTH – A Single Man
• JEREMY RENNER – The Hurt Locker
• ANDY SERKIS – Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

LEADING ACTRESS

• CAREY MULLIGAN – An Education
• SAOIRSE RONAN – The Lovely Bones
• GABOUREY SIDIBE – Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
• MERYL STREEP – Julie & Julia
• AUDREY TAUTOU – Coco Before Chanel

SUPPORTING ACTOR

• ALEC BALDWIN – It’s Complicated
• CHRISTIAN McKAY – Me and Orson Welles
• ALFRED MOLINA – An Education
• STANLEY TUCCI – The Lovely Bones
• CHRISTOPH WALTZ – Inglourious Basterds

SUPPORTING ACTRESS

• ANNE-MARIE DUFF – Nowhere Boy
• VERA FARMIGA – Up in the Air
• ANNA KENDRICK – Up in the Air
• MO’NIQUE – Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire
• KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS – Nowhere Boy

MUSIC

• AVATAR – James Horner
• CRAZY HEART – T-Bone Burnett, Stephen Bruton
• FANTASTIC MR FOX – Alexandre Desplat
• SEX & DRUGS & ROCK & ROLL – Chaz Jankel
• UP – Michael Giacchino

CINEMATOGRAPHY

• AVATAR – Mauro Fiore
• DISTRICT 9 – Trent Opaloch
• THE HURT LOCKER – Barry Ackroyd
• INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS – Robert Richardson
• THE ROAD – Javier Aguirresarobe

EDITING

• AVATAR – Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua, James Cameron
• DISTRICT 9 – Julian Clarke
• THE HURT LOCKER – Bob Murawski, Chris Innis
• INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS – Sally Menke
• UP IN THE AIR – Dana E. Glauberman

PRODUCTION DESIGN

• AVATAR – Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg, Kim Sinclair
• DISTRICT 9 – Philip Ivey, Guy Potgieter
• HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE – Stuart Craig, Stephenie McMillan
• THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS – Dave Warren, Anastasia Masaro, Caroline Smith
• INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS – David Wasco, Sandy Reynolds Wasco

COSTUME DESIGN

• BRIGHT STAR – Janet Patterson
• COCO BEFORE CHANEL – Catherine Leterrier
• AN EDUCATION – Odile Dicks-Mireaux
• A SINGLE MAN – Arianne Phillips
• THE YOUNG VICTORIA – Sandy Powell

SOUND

• AVATAR – Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson, Tony Johnson, Addison Teague
• DISTRICT 9 – Brent Burge, Chris Ward, Dave Whitehead, Michael Hedges, Ken Saville
• THE HURT LOCKER – Ray Beckett, Paul N. J. Ottosson
• STAR TREK – Peter J. Devlin, Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, Mark Stoeckinger, Ben Burtt
• UP – Tom Myers, Michael Silvers, Michael Semanick

SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS

• AVATAR – Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, Andrew R. Jones
• DISTRICT 9 – Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros, Matt Aitken
• HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE – John Richardson, Tim Burke, Tim Alexander, Nicolas Aithadi
• THE HURT LOCKER – Richard Stutsman
• STAR TREK – Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh, Burt Dalton

MAKE UP & HAIR

• COCO BEFORE CHANEL – Thi Thanh Tu Nguyen, Jane Milon
• AN EDUCATION – Lizzie Yianni Georgiou
• THE IMAGINARIUM OF DOCTOR PARNASSUS – Sarah Monzani
• NINE – Peter ‘Swords’ King
• THE YOUNG VICTORIA – Jenny Shircore

SHORT ANIMATION

• THE GRUFFALO – Michael Rose, Martin Pope, Jakob Schuh, Max Lang
• THE HAPPY DUCKLING – Gili Dolev
• MOTHER OF MANY – Sally Arthur, Emma Lazenby

SHORT FILM

• 14 – Asitha Ameresekere
• I DO AIR – James Bolton, Martina Amati
• JADE – Samm Haillay, Daniel Elliott
• MIXTAPE – Luti Fagbenle, Luke Snellin
• OFF SEASON – Jacob Jaffke, Jonathan van Tulleken

ORANGE RISING STAR AWARD

• JESSE EISENBERG
• NICHOLAS HOULT
• CAREY MULLIGAN
• TAHAR RAHIM
• KRISTEN STEWART