TORONTO — “Dr. Lucille: The Lucille Teasdale Story,” a telepic about a Quebec woman’s work in Africa, topped the winner’s list in this year’s Geminis, Canada’s answer to the Emmys.
Produced by Francine Allaire, Claude Bonin and Andre Picard, “Dr. Lucille” received the best TV movie or dramatic miniseries statuette, as well as awards for writing (Rob Forsyth), photography (Michael Buckley) and costume design (Ruy Filipe).
The CBC’s long-running current-affairs program “The Fifth Estate” took four Geminis: It won for news information series, while Neil Docherty took the award for direction and Francine Pelletier for writing the “Legacy of Pain” episode in the information program or series category and Jennifer Campbell and Erin Paul took the award for information segment for the episode titled “Too Bad to Be True.”
Pointing up that the sheer number of nominations does not necessarily make a winner, the crime drama “DaVinci’s Inquest,” which received the most noms this year (10, including three in the actor category alone), won just one Gemini — albeit in the coveted dramatic series category. Another hot contender with nine nominations, “The Sheldon Kennedy Story,” the true story of a pro hockey player who in his youth was molested by his coach, took just two: Jonathan Scarfe won for best performance by a lead actor, and Robert Wisden won best performance by an actor in a supporting role.
Salter Street’s “This Hour Has 22 Minutes” took three awards: comedy program or series, writing and performance in a comedy program or series by stars Cathy Jones, Rick Mercer, Greg Thomey and Mary Walsh.Some 430 programs were nominated in 74 categories for the 15th annual Gemini Awards, sponsored by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television and held in Toronto over three nights, Saturday through Monday.
