Lauren Lee Smith, Callum Keith Rennie (4/08 Leo nominee)
Excerpt from Victoria Times Colonist 4/23/08: Lauren Lee Smith, Callum Keith Rennie (Zach Lockhart, "Ex Marks the Spot")
Leo Award nominations honour best in B.C. film
Michael D. Reid, Published: Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Five homegrown film and TV projects, including a Canadian feature film made in Victoria last year, have been nominated for Leo Awards, the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Foundation of B.C. has announced. Normal, Carl Bessai's ensemble drama about intertwining lives of characters affected by a tragedy, led the local pack with 11 nominations, including best feature-length drama, best director and best screenwriting.
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Other honours garnered by Normal included nominations for best actor (Callum Keith Rennie, Tygh Runyon), actress (Camille Sullivan), supporting actor (Cameron Bright), supporting actress (Britt Irvin and Lauren Lee Smith), cinematography and editing.
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Established in 1998, the Leo Awards celebrate excellence in B.C. film and television production. The 10th anniversary awards celebration takes place May 23 and 24 at Vancouver's Westin Bayshore.
© Times Colonist (Victoria)
Excerpt from Brightlight Pictures 4/29/08: Lauren Lee Smith
BRIGHTLIGHT PICTURES CAPTURES 26 LEO NOMINATONS
VANCOUVER, April 29, 2008 - A slate of seven recent feature films and television productions produced by Brightlight Pictures and its principals, Stephen Hegyes and Shawn Williamson, have been nominated for a whopping 26 Leo Awards.
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NORMAL, written and directed by Carl Bessai, who produced with Andrew Boutilier, is a Submission Films and Raven West Films production. Shawn Williamson and Stephen Hegyes are executive producers of the film, which has been honoured with 11 Leo nominations. NORMAL’s nominations are for: Best Feature Length Drama, Best Direction in a Feature Length Drama (Bessai), Best Screenwriting in a Feature Length Drama (Bessai), Best Cinematography in a Feature Length Drama (Bessai), Best Picture Editing in a Feature Length Drama (Lisa Binkley), Lead Performance by a Male in a Feature Length Drama (Callum Keith Rennie), Lead Performance by a Male in a Feature Length Drama (Tygh Runyan), Lead Performance by a Female in a Feature Length Drama (Camille Sullivan), Best Supporting Performance by a Male in a Feature Length Drama (Cameron Bright), Best Supporting Performance by a Female in a Feature Length Drama (Britt Irvin), and Best Supporting Performance by a Female in a Feature Length Drama (Lauren Lee Smith).
© Brightlight Pictures
Excerpt from Playback 5/12/08: Lauren Lee Smith, Callum Keith Rennie (Zach Lockhart, "Ex Marks the Spot")
Normal, Brightlight lead pack at 10th Leos
May 12, 2008 by Alison Cunningham
This month will mark the 10th time the B.C. production community has assembled to celebrate itself at the Leo Awards, and although the province has witnessed great industry growth in that time, the director of this year’s most nominated film wishes the domestic sector would get bigger still.
‘It’s always great to be noticed by your community. But I always hope for more feature films to be made here,’ says Carl Bessai, whose drama Normal, about a group of strangers brought together by a tragedy, leads the feature film pack at this year’s Leos with 11 nominations.
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Normal’s Leo nods include best feature-length drama, direction (Bessai), screenwriting (Travis McDonald), cinematography (Bessai) and picture editing (Lisa Binkley). In acting categories, Normal’s Callum Keith Rennie and Tygh Runyan will face off for lead male performance, while Camille Sullivan is up for female lead, and Cameron Bright, Britt Irvin and Lauren Lee Smith are shortlisted for their supporting roles.
© Playback