“York Fine Arts film grads deserve this special accolade for their wonderful showing at this year’s Genie Awards,” says Phillip Silver, Dean of York’s Faculty of Fine Arts. We are proud that York was able to provide a training ground for some of Canada’s leading filmmakers and wish them the very best.”

York alumni David ‘Sudz’ Sutherland and partner Jennifer Holness are in the spotlight with three Genie nods for their sexy urban comedy, Love, Sex and Eating the Bones. Sutherland, who is up for best direction and original screenplay awards, studied at York’s Department of Film and Video from 1989 to 1991, while Holness, who is nominated in the producer category, received her BA from York in 1992.

York BFA grad Bronwen Hughes originally planned to be a journalist, but graduated in 1985 “hooked on film”. Hughes’s Genie nomination is for directing Stander. Based on a true story, the film shows the disaffection with apartheid of a young South African policeman in the late 1970s. He embarks on a campaign of civil disobedience that takes an unusual turn, a series of increasingly brazen bank robberies. Hughes has also directed such first-run Hollywood films as Forces of Nature and Harriet The Spy.

John Palmer, who taught at York in 1991-92, Jaie Laplante (BFA ’92) and Todd Klinck, who studied at York in the 1990s are nominated together for best Adapted Screenplay. Their movie Sugar is adapted from a series of stories by Bruce LaBruce, and tells the coming-of-age tale of a suburban teen and his love for a street hustler.

Paul Sorrossy graduated from York’s Film and Video Program in 1986 and is nominated for his cinematographic triumph in Head in the Clouds. He also has credits for his work behind the camera in such films as Ararat, Felicia’s Journey and The Sweet Hereafter.

And Carl Bessai (BFA ‘89/MFA ’92) will be watching to see if renowned British actor Ian McKellen wins a Genie for best actor in emile. Bessai not only co-produced the film, but personally recruited McKellen, who famously played Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, for the starring role in emile.

York University is the leading interdisciplinary teaching and research university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city.  The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 180,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 10 faculties and 21 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries.  This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges.

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For more information or to set up an interview, please contact:

Nancy White, Director, Media Relations, York University, 416-736-5603