25th Canadian Film Awards

The 25th Canadian Film Awards were announced on October 12, 1973, to honour achievements in Canadian film.[1]

25th Canadian Film Awards
DateOctober 12, 1973
LocationChevalier Theatre, Montreal
Highlights
Most awardsKamouraska
The Sloane Affair
Best Motion PictureSlipstream

Quebec boycott

The awards were marred by controversy, when 14 Quebec film directors signed an open letter announcing a boycott of the awards over their handling of Quebec films.[2] The signatories were Gilles Carle, Denis Héroux, Claude Jutra, Marcel Carrière, Denys Arcand, Clément Perron, André Melançon, Jacques Gagné, Gilles Therien, René Avon, André Bélanger, Jean Saulnier, Roger Frappier and Aimée Danis.[3] They expressed the view that English Canadian and French Canadian film were two different domains which could not be directly compared against each other in the same categories but instead needed to each have their own selection criteria and even their own separate awards, and criticized the funding processes of organizations such as the Canadian Film Development Corporation, the National Film Board of Canada and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.[2] The directors chose to protest even though the awards had been scheduled to be presented, as a bi-cultural event, in Montreal.[4]

Although the directors stated that they intended their letter as a "quiet" gesture, it had an explosive impact; the Canadian Film Award gala scheduled for October 12 was cancelled. An awards luncheon for sponsored and educational films went ahead, but winners in other categories were announced at a press conference,[4] and the awards were entirely cancelled in 1974, with the 26th Canadian Film Awards not taking place until 1975.[1]

Despite the boycott, several of the boycotting directors' films were named as winners,[4] although Carle's win of the Wendy Michener Award, for "outstanding contribution to the Canadian Film Awards and the Canadian film industry", was booed in the theatre.[5] But English-language filmmakers felt betrayed and angry, and producers and film distributors from Quebec, dissociated themselves from the directors' move.[4][1]

Best Picture controversy

The awards faced further controversy when Slipstream was announced as the winner of the award for Best Feature Film.[4] The film's Best Feature Film win, over Kamouraska, Réjeanne Padovani, Paperback Hero and Between Friends, was widely derided by critics.[1] The Globe and Mail film critic Betty Lee acknowledged that the film showed some promise on Acomba's part, but concluded that it "sags embarrassingly under its weight of honors".[6] In its December 1973 year in review, the paper named it as the worst film of the year and singled out the Canadian Film Awards for a special "Grand Prix for General All-Around Stupidity", both for choosing Slipstream as Best Picture over four much stronger nominees and for giving the Michener Award to Carle.[7] Its victory was later cited as an indication that the boycotting directors had been correct in their beliefs that the Canadian Film Awards had a systemic bias against Quebec films.[8]

Winners

Films
Faire hurler les murs — Office du film du Québec, Jean Saulnier director[12]
Ski Alberta — Ranson Photographers, C. N. Ross producer[17]
  • Public Relations: We Are Running Out of Time — Simon Fraser University, Jan Turek director
  • Sales Promotion: Way of Wood — Canawest Film Productions, Roy E. Burns producer
  • Training and Instruction: Moccasin Flats — Immedia Inc., Patrick Watson producer,[18] and
The Trial of Polly Upgate — Gertrude McCance, Don S. Williams producers, Don S. Williams director[19]

Feature Film Craft Awards
Joe Grimaldi - Paperback Hero (Agincourt Productions)

Non-Feature Craft Awards
Pierre Letarte - The Ungrateful Land: Roch Carrier Remembers Ste-Justine (NFB)
Arthur Lamothe - A bon pied, bon œil
Danielle Gagné - A bon pied bon œil
Herbert Helbig - To War and Back
Keith Harley - The Winning of Nickel (Westminster Films),[28] and
Pen Densham, J. Fisher and John Watson - Streetworker
  • Sound Recording: Richard Besse and Jacques Chévigny - Station 10 (NFB),[29] and
Karen Foster and Clarke Da Prato - Are You Listening (You Out There?)
  • Sound Re-Recording: Michel Descombes - Le vent (NFB)[30]

Special Awards
Cameron Graham - To War and Back

References
  1. Maria Topalovich, And the Genie Goes To...: Celebrating 50 Years of the Canadian Film Awards. Stoddart Publishing, 2000. ISBN 0-7737-3238-1. pp. 111-114.
  2. "Group fights to save Film Awards after Quebec directors bow out". The Globe and Mail, October 10, 1973.
  3. "Death of the Film Awards". Cinema Canada, October 1973/January 1974 (Number 10-11).
  4. "A wake for Canadian cinema". The Globe and Mail, October 13, 1973.
  5. "No wonder there're no prizes for Bucheron". The Globe and Mail, November 24, 1973.
  6. "Seagull irritating, Summer Wishes soars, Slipstream not the expected blockbuster". The Globe and Mail, November 10, 1973.
  7. "The stinkers of '73". The Globe and Mail, December 29, 1973.
  8. "Rebirth of the film awards". The Globe and Mail, October 2, 1975.
  9. "Slipstream". bfi.org.uk. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on September 2, 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  10. "Coming Home". onf-nfb.gc.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
  11. "Grierson". onf-nfb.gc.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  12. "Faire hurler les murs". archivescanada.accesstomemory.ca. Canadian Archival Information Network. Retrieved 25 March 2023.
  13. "Goodbye Sousa". onf-nfb.gc.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  14. "The Family That Dwelt Apart". onf-nfb.gc.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  15. "The Sloane Affair". onf-nfb.gc.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  16. "The Ungrateful Land: Roch Carrier Remembers Ste-Justine". onf-nfb.gc.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  17. "Ski Alberta". bfi.org.uk. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on March 19, 2023. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  18. "Moccasin Flats". youtube.com. YouTube. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  19. "Education Department Film Wins Recognition" (PDF). news.gov.mb.ca. Manitoba Government News Service. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  20. "O.K. ... Laliberté". onf-nfb.gc.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  21. "Kamouraska". bfi.org.uk. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on October 3, 2018. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  22. "La Mort D'un Bucheron". bfi.org.uk. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on March 29, 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  23. "Paperback Hero". cfe.tiff.net. Canadian Film Encyclopedia. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  24. "Rejeanne Padovani". bfi.org.uk. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on August 7, 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  25. "L' Infonie Inachevée". bfi.org.uk. British Film Institute. Archived from the original on November 16, 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2023.
  26. "Des armes et les hommes". onf-nfb.gc.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  27. "The Shield". screenculture.org. CESIF. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  28. "The Winning of Nickel". screenculture.org. CESIF. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  29. "Station 10". onf-nfb.gc.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  30. "Le vent". onf-nfb.gc.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
  31. "Ratopolis". nfb.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
  32. "NFB Memories - Robert Forget". onf-nfb.gc.ca. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
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