| 8th Genie Awards | |
|---|---|
| Date | March 18, 1987 |
| Site | Metro Toronto Convention Centre Toronto,Ontario |
| Hosted by | Helen Shaver Linda Sorensen Jean LeClerc |
| Highlights | |
| Best Picture | The Decline of the American Empire (Le Déclin de l'empire américain) |
| Most awards | The Decline of the American Empire |
| Most nominations | The Decline of the American Empire |
| Television coverage | |
| Network | CBC Television |
The8th Annual Genie Awards were held on March 18, 1987, to honour Canadian films made the previous year.[1] The show was again held at theMetro Toronto Convention Centre and was co-hosted by actorsHelen Shaver,Linda Sorensen andJean LeClerc. It was broadcast live onCBC Television.[2]
The prestigious Air Canada Award was presented toGarth Drabinsky, film producer and head of North America's largest movie exhibition chain,Cineplex Odeon.
The Special Achievement award went toTaming of the Demons, a film commissioned byTeleglobe Canada forExpo 86 by experimental filmmakerEmil Radok which explores the development of civilization through communications technologies.[3]
The show itself received mixed reviews but the Canadian film industry had finally received the break it had long been waiting for inDenys Arcand'sThe Decline of the American Empire (Le Déclin de l'empire américain), an international hit which, a few months earlier, had won the International Critics' Prize at theCannes Film Festival and become the first Canadian film to benominated for theAcademy Award for Best International Feature Film. To no one's surprise, it dominated the awards.
Danielle Messia's song "De la main gauche", from the filmAnne Trister, was named winner of the award forBest Original Song at the ceremony, but later had its award rescinded when it was discovered that the song was not original to the film, but in fact had previously appeared on one of Messia's own albums five years earlier.[4]Gilles Vigneault's "Les iles de l'enfance", from the filmEquinox (Équinoxe), was later named the new winner of the award.[5]
