And the Genie Goes To.: Celebrating 50 Years of the Canadian Film Awards

Julie Rekai Rickerd is a Toronto-based broadcaster and public-relations
consultant.

This well-documented and generously illustrated book is a fascinating
history of the growth of the Canadian film industry.

It is hard to believe that more than 50 years have passed since Budge
Crawley, Claude Jutra, and Norman McLaren were among the recipients of
awards at the first Canadian Film Awards (CFA) ceremony, attended by
Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent, in 1949. Since then, Canadian
producers, directors, actors, and technicians have become global
celebrities, reaping awards worldwide. The book’s text and photographs
provide a fascinating look at the development of the industry in Canada
and its many players.

Mary Pickford is shown hosting the CFA in 1951. John Grierson is a
special award recipient in 1957, and documentarian Donald Brittain is
honored in 1964. Richard Leiterman receives an award for cinematography
in 1976. Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau is an enthusiastic guest
at the 1981 ceremony at which Kate Reid, Marie Tifo, Joel Michaels, and
Garth Drabinsky were among the Genie recipients, as the awards
themselves came to be known. In the 1990s, award winners included Robert
Lantos, Robert Lepage, David Cronenberg, and Atom Egoyan.

This book is a wonderful tribute to, and remembrance of, the many
creative individuals whose contributions to Canadian film were honored.
It is also a valuable study and record of the “often turbulent
evolution” of the CFA and the industry itself from 1949 to 1999.