Most nominations The Changeling Other ceremonies 1981 | Best Picture The Changeling Date 20 March 1980 | |
The 1st Genie Awards were presented on March 20, 1980, and honoured films released in 1979. They were given out at a gala event at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto with Bruno Gerussi as host.
A luncheon the day before the gala saw the non-feature film awards presented.
The first time they were presented as the Genie Awards instead of the Canadian Film Awards, the 1980 ceremony also marked the first time the awards were presented by the newly organized Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.
The show was broadcast on CBC Television and was noted for its Oscars-like production design, with production numbers including a jazz dance performance by Jeff Hyslop and Karen Kain set to the tune of "Dancing in the Dark", and a performance by female impersonator Craig Russell in character as Judy Garland.
The show was not without controversy: award winner Christopher Plummer used his speech to criticize the distinction made between Canadian and foreign actors, calling on the Academy to treat "Canadian or Samothracian" actors equally. The fact that no French language films won any major awards was also a source of some controversy, In addition, despite having duly released three nominations in the category of Editing in a Dramatic Film (Non-Feature), the jury used the moment of presentation to announce that they had deemed none of the three to be sufficiently worthy of an award; producer Sam Levene, in his acceptance speech for another award, called that decision an "arrogant slap in the face" to the nominees.
Several awards were presented at this ceremony in specialized categories which were not retained in future years.