Bijou Awards

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The Bijou Awards were a Canadian award for non-feature films, launched in 1981 but presented only once before being discontinued. [1] Created as a joint project of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and the Canadian Film and Television Association (CFTA), the awards were essentially a new home for many of the categories, particularly but not exclusively the ones for television films, that had been dropped after the old Canadian Film Awards transitioned into the Genie Awards in 1980, [2] as well as for the CFTA's trade and craft awards in areas such as television advertising and educational films. [3]

The ceremony was held on October 28, 1981, at Casa Loma in Toronto, Ontario, and hosted by Nancy White. [4]

The awards were not presented in 1982, as the Academy of Canadian Cinema undertook detailed planning toward introducing permanent television awards. [5] In 1983, the Academy formally proposed that the Bijou Awards replace the ACTRA Awards as the primary national television award, [6] although this did not occur and the Bijous were ultimately never presented again; instead, the Gemini Awards, the Academy's permanent awards for television production, were launched in 1986, [7] and in 2012 the Genies and the Geminis were merged into the contemporary Canadian Screen Awards.

Some later sources have occasionally misattributed the Bijou winners as Genie or Gemini winners. [8]

Winners and nominees

Best Television Drama Over 30 MinutesBest Television Drama Under 30 Minutes
Best Documentary Over 30 MinutesBest Documentary Under 30 Minutes
Best Actor Best Actress
Best AnimationBest Television Variety or Music
Best Director of a DramaBest Director of a Documentary
Nielsen-Ferns International First Production AwardChetwynd Award for Business Promotion
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  • Against the RiverYork University Film Department
  • Steady as She Goes — Pretty Pictures
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Best ScreenplayBest Non-Dramatic Script
Best Instructional ProgramBest Commercial
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  • Class Project: The Garbage Movie
  • What's Bugging Him?
  • Blueribbon icon.png Imperial Oil: "Energy Efficiency" — Patti Grech
  • Coffee Council: "Cowboys" — Rabko Television Productions
  • Sunlight: "Wedding" — The Partners Film Co.
Best Art DirectionBest Music Score
Best Cinematography in a DramaBest Cinematography in a Documentary
Best Independent ProductionBest Sales, Promotion or Public Relations Film
  • Blueribbon icon.png Snow — Lloyd Walton for Ontario Parks
  • Be a Winner! — Pro Creation Canada
  • The Little Paper That Grew — Extra Modern Productions
Best Editing in a DramaBest Editing in a Documentary
Best SoundBest Visual Effects
  • Blueribbon icon.png Colin Chivers, RC Cola: "Innertube"
Best Audio-Video, 1-7 Projector ProgramsBest Audio-Video, 8-18 Projector Programs
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  • Blueribbon icon.png The Green Network

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References

  1. "Brides nominated for 7 awards". The Province , October 7, 1981.
  2. Maria Topalovich, And the Genie Goes To...: Celebrating 50 Years of the Canadian Film Awards. Stoddart Publishing, 2000. ISBN   0-7737-3238-1. pp. 135-139.
  3. "Bijou Awards bow for shorts and TV prods". Cinema Canada , November 1981.
  4. "War Brides top Bijou winner". Regina Leader-Post , October 30, 1981.
  5. Mark Dillon, "Playback tribute: a reinvigorated Academy celebrates its legacy". Playback , March 7, 2014.
  6. Lorne Parton, "TV trade looking at alternatives to the ACTRA awards". The Province , April 21, 1983.
  7. Matthew Fraser, "New awards for TV films announced". The Globe and Mail , May 31, 1985.
  8. For example, the headline "Hard life, hard film: true story of Linda M is sequel to Gemini winner Nose and Tina" ( Winnipeg Free Press , October 17, 1995) mistakenly ascribes a Bijou winner listed here as a Gemini winner.