It's sad, and it's unfortunate, but it all comes down to money, homeskillets.When the Canadian Genie Awards airs this Monday, March 3, it might be with the lovely Sandra Oh leading festivities, but it will be doing so without any sort of Juno love. This might seem strange since, well, Ellen Page and Michael Cera are Canadian, as is director Jason Reitman, the comedy was filmed in Canada (British Columbia, to be exact), it had an extended Canadian cast, and a Canadian crew. Topping that Canuck goodness off with all the nominations and wins the film has received, it would seem certain that Juno would be all over the Genies.
Not quite. As Yahoo/Reuters states: Genie rules say that some of the film's production budget must come from Canada for it to be deemed a Canadian film and be worthy of consideration. (Is there a certain, specific amount of "some," I wonder? Could some dudes just donate a $20 and make these sort of problems go away?) I see the rationale, but it sure makes for skewed selections. Ellen Page and her Diablo-led brethren have been snubbed, but Eastern Promises is in the running because approximately 20% of the film's budget came from Canada.
Reitman says: "how are we not eligible for a Genie when David Cronenberg's film about Russians living in London shot in England with a British crew and British cast is eligible? I'm sorry, but somebody is going to have to explain that to me; I don't get it." Well, I get it, but it's a massively flawed rationale -- as Etan Vlessing says: "Leave it to other awards shows to honor filmmaking excellence, whatever its origins. The Genies celebrate government support." Next time, Jason will have to get his film paid for with loonies and toonies.
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