This was a high profile year once again for Canadian films and filmmakers at the Oscars. Canadian director Jean-Mark Vallée’s drama “Dallas Buyers Club” stole the limelight receiving 6 nominations across the board, including the prized Best Picture nomination and the high profile, hotly contended Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor nominations. Vallée who also received a co-nomination for editing, was not the only Canadian to receive recognition at the Academy Awards.

Canadians honored with nominations included; musician Owen Pallet (Final Fantasy) for his work with William Butler (Arcade Fire) on Best Original Score for “Her”, Michael Pensa was co-nominated for his Editing on “Dallas Buyers Club”. A big win went to the Canadian-UK co-production “The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life” for the Best Documentary Short.

A lesser known fact about “Dallas Buyers Club”: it was originally set to be a Canadian production once Jean-Marc Vallée was attached. However, the production was moved south when Government funding was denied because of the lack of domestic talent. This subsequently caused the other Canadian investors to back out last min and sent Vallée, and writers Craig Borten, Melisa Wallack on a last minute scramble to secure new financing in 3 days. Better luck next time Canada.

To hear more about the producer who saved the day on “Dallas Buyers Club” see The Texas Businessman Who Saved Dallas Buyers Club.

– Astrid Handling

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