1st Genie Awards

1st Genie Awards
1st Genie Awards
Date	March 20, 1980
Site	Royal Alexandra Theatre, Toronto
Hosted by	Bruno Gerussi
Highlights
Best Picture	The Changeling
Most nominations	The Changeling
	← 29th CFAs; Genie Awards; 2nd →;

The 1st Genie Awards were presented on March 20, 1980, and honoured films released in 1979.^[1] They were given out at a gala event at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto with Bruno Gerussi as host.^[1] Awards for non-feature films were presented at a luncheon the day before the gala.^[2]

The 1980 ceremonies were the first time the awards were presented as the Genie Awards instead of the Canadian Film Awards,^[3] and the first time they were presented by the newly organized Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.^[4]

Ceremony[]

The show was broadcast on CBC Television, and noted for its Oscars-like production design, with production numbers including a jazz dance performance by Jeff Hyslop and Karen Kain set to the tune of "Dancing in the Dark", and female impersonator Craig Russell in character as Judy Garland.^[5]

The show was not without controversy. Award winner Christopher Plummer used his speech to criticize the distinction made between Canadian and foreign actors, calling on the Academy to treat "Canadian or Samothracian" actors equally.^[1] The fact that no French language films won any major awards was also a source of controversy.^[1] In addition, despite having duly released three nominations in the category of Editing in a Dramatic Film (Non-Feature), the jury used the moment of presentation to announce that they had deemed none of the three worthy of an award.^[2] Producer , in his acceptance speech for another award, called the decision an "arrogant slap in the face" to the nominees.^[2]

Several awards were presented in specialized categories which were carried over from the structure of the Canadian Film Awards, but were not retained by the Genies in future years. Many of those categories were transitioned to the shortlived new Bijou Awards for non-feature films in 1981,^[6] but that ceremony took place only once and was not continued in subsequent years.

Award winners and nominees[]

Motion Picture	Direction
The Changeling (Garth Drabinsky, Joel B. Michaels) Cordélia () Klondike Fever (, Peter Welbeck) Meatballs (Daniel Goldberg, , ) Running (, , )	Bob Clark, Murder by Decree Peter Carter, Klondike Fever Anne-Claire Poirier, A Scream from Silence (Mourir à tue-tête) Donald Shebib, Fish Hawk Eric Till, Wild Horse Hank
Actor in a leading role	Actress in a leading role
Christopher Plummer, Murder by Decree Geoffrey Bowes, Something's Rotten Robin Gammell, Jack London's Klondike Fever Thomas Hauff, Summer's Children Stephen Lack, The Rubber Gun	Kate Lynch, Meatballs Micheline Lanctôt, A Scream from Silence (Mourir à tue-tête) Louise Marleau, Heartbreak (L'arrache-coeur) Claire Pimparé, Yesterday Louise Portal, Cordélia
Actor in a supporting role	Actress in a supporting role
Gordon Pinsent, Jack London's Klondike Fever Harvey Atkin, Meatballs Lawrence Dane, Running Chris Makepeace, Meatballs Saul Rubinek, Agency Robert A. Silverman, The Brood	Geneviève Bujold, Murder by Decree Helen Burns, The Changeling Patricia Collins, Summer's Children Barbara Gordon, Wild Horse Hank Frances Hyland, The Changeling
Foreign Actor	Foreign Actress
George C. Scott, The Changeling Michael Douglas, Running Bill Murray, Meatballs Will Sampson, Fish Hawk Rod Steiger, Jack London's Klondike Fever	Trish Van Devere, The Changeling Susan Anspach, Running Samantha Eggar, The Brood Sally Kellerman, It Rained All Night the Day I Left Cloris Leachman, Yesterday
Actor (Non-Feature)	Actress (Non-Feature)
Rudi Lipp, Revolution's Orphans Ken Pogue, Every Person Is Guilty Saul Rubinek, The Wordsmith	Martha Henry, The Newcomers Lynne Griffin, Every Person Is Guilty Bronwen Mantel, Revolution's Orphans Janet Ward, The Wordsmith
Original Screenplay	Adapted Screenplay
Len Blum, Dan Goldberg, , Meatballs Mireille Dansereau, Heartbreak (L'arrache-coeur) Allan Moyle, John Laing, Stephen Lack, The Rubber Gun , Summer's Children Anne Claire Poirier, Marthe Blackburn, A Scream from Silence (Mourir à tue-tête) Steven Hilliard Stern, Running	and , The Changeling Ted Allan, It Rained All Night the Day I Left Jean Beaudin and Marcel Sabourin, Cordélia and , Jack London's Klondike Fever Jean-Claude Lord and , Chocolate Eclair (Éclair au chocolat)
Outstanding Independent Film	Theatrical Short
Terry Burke, and , Cities: Glenn Gould's Toronto , , Tukiki and His Search for a Merry Christmas	Phillip Borsos, Nails Giles Walker, Terry Burke,
Art Direction and Production Design	Art Direction (Non-Feature)
Trevor Williams, The Changeling and , Cordélia , Fish Hawk , Jack London's Klondike Fever , It Rained All Night the Day I Left Roy Forge Smith, Yesterday Carol Spier, The Brood	, The Wordsmith , Revolution's Orphans , Riel
Direction in a Dramatic Film (Non-Feature)	Direction in a Documentary (Non-Feature)
Paul Almond, Every Person Is Guilty , John N. Smith, Revolution's Orphans	Donald Brittain, Paperland: The Bureaucrat Observed Phillip Borsos, Nails Terence Macartney-Filgate, Dieppe 1942
Outstanding Screenplay (Non-Feature)	Non-Dramatic Script
Mordecai Richler, The Wordsmith , , and John N. Smith, Revolution's Orphans Ralph L. Thomas, Every Person Is Guilty	, and Donald Brittain, Paperland: The Bureaucrat Observed Timothy Findley and William Whitehead, Dieppe 1942 Glenn Gould, Cities: Glenn Gould's Toronto
Outstanding TV Drama Over 30 Minutes	Outstanding TV Drama Under 30 Minutes
and , Certain Practices and , Every Person Is Guilty and , The Wordsmith	Giles Walker, Bravery in the Field John N. Smith, Revolution's Orphans , ,
Outstanding Documentary - 30 Minutes and Over	Outstanding Documentary - 30 Minutes and Under
Donald Brittain and , Paperland: The Bureaucrat Observed Terence Macartney-Filgate, Dieppe 1942 and , Cities: Glenn Gould's Toronto	Mark Dolgoy, Priory: The Only Home I've Got , Claire Prieto,
Costume Design	Cinematography
Louise Jobin, Cordélia François Barbeau, Chocolate Eclair (Éclair au chocolat) Linda Matheson, Fish Hawk Patti Unger, Jack London's Klondike Fever Julie Whitfield, Something's Rotten Julie Whitfield, Tanya's Island	John Coquillon, The Changeling Miklós Lente, Agency Pierre Mignot, Cordélia Reginald H. Morris, Murder by Decree , Running
Cinematography in a Dramatic Film (Non-Feature)	Cinematography in a Documentary (Non-Feature)
, Bravery in the Field , Revolution's Orphans , Every Person Is Guilty	, (Le Pilier de cristal) , Nails and , Paperland: The Bureaucrat Observed , Dieppe 1942
Animation	Sound Editing
, Every Child Kaj Pindal, Caninabis and , Tukiki and His Search for a Merry Christmas	Patrick Drummond, Dennis Drummond and Robert Grieve, The Changeling Michael Clark and Brian French, Wild Horse Hank Kenneth Heeley-Ray, Agency Kenneth Heeley-Ray, Murder by Decree Marcel Pothier, Chocolate Eclair (Éclair au chocolat)
Sound	Sound (Non-Feature)
Joe Grimaldi, Austin Grimaldi, Dino Pigat and Karl Scherer, The Changeling David Appleby and Joe Grimaldi, Murder by Decree Gary C. Bourgeois and Richard Lightstone, Meatballs Joe Grimaldi and Bryan Day, The Brood Owen Langevin, Joe Grimaldi, David Appleby, Running	Tony Van den Akker, Al Caruso, Andy Malcolm and Terry Burke, Hans Oomes and Bernard Bordeleau, Paperland: The Bureaucrat Observed Alex Taylor, Michael Lax and Austin Grimaldi, Dieppe 1942
Editing	Editing (Non-Feature)
Stan Cole, Murder by Decree George Appleby, Wild Horse Hank Jean Beaudin, Cordélia Debra Karen, Meatballs Debra Karen, Yesterday Marcel Pothier, Heartbreak (L'arrache-coeur) Ron Wisman, Fish Hawk	Richard Todd, Paperland: The Bureaucrat Observed Thomas Berner, Dieppe 1942 Raymond Hall, Nails Andy Malcolm and Terry Burke,
Musical Score	Musical Score (Non-Feature)
and Paul Zaza, Murder by Decree Hagood Hardy, Jack London's Klondike Fever Paul Hoffert, Wild Horse Hank , It Rained All Night the Day I Left Howard Shore, The Brood	Michael Conway Baker, Nails Hagood Hardy, Tukiki and His Search for a Merry Christmas Rick Wilkins, Dieppe 1942
Editing in a Dramatic Film (Non-Feature)	Special Awards
No winner Every Person Is Guilty Haida Paul, Arla Saare, The Wordsmith	Special Awards: Certain Practices; Every Child John Grierson Award: Air Canada Award: Golden Reel Award: Meatballs

References[]

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c ^d Jay Scott, "Changeling wins Genie as year's best movie". The Globe and Mail, March 21, 1980.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c Rick Groen, "NFB, Brittain dominate TV Genie awards". The Globe and Mail, March 20, 1980.
^ Duart Snow, "Enter Genie, son of old Etrog". Ottawa Journal, March 15, 1980.
^ Jay Scott, "Changeling leads Canadian Film Award nominees". The Globe and Mail, February 8, 1980.
^ Meg Floyd, "Jazzing up the Genies". The Globe and Mail, March 15, 1980.
^ "Gems among Bijous". Vancouver Sun, October 8, 1991.

External links[]

Genie Awards 1980 on imdb Archived 2010-02-11 at the Wayback Machine

[changeling-1] Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c ^d Jay Scott, "Changeling wins Genie as year's best movie". The Globe and Mail, March 21, 1980.

[groen-2] Jump up to: ^a ^b ^c Rick Groen, "NFB, Brittain dominate TV Genie awards". The Globe and Mail, March 20, 1980.

[3] Duart Snow, "Enter Genie, son of old Etrog". Ottawa Journal, March 15, 1980.

[4] Jay Scott, "Changeling leads Canadian Film Award nominees". The Globe and Mail, February 8, 1980.

[5] Meg Floyd, "Jazzing up the Genies". The Globe and Mail, March 15, 1980.

[6] "Gems among Bijous". Vancouver Sun, October 8, 1991.

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