Sarah Polley and her acclaimed first feature Away From Her was the centre of attention at a special brunch in Toronto on Sunday, the eve of the Genie Awards honouring the best in film achievements in Canada.

Polley's Alzheimer's drama lost a best adapted screenplay Oscar recently to the Coen brothers, who wrote and directed No Country For Old Men. And Julie Christie lost out for the best-actress Oscar to La Vie en Rose's Marion Cotillard.

Actor Gordon Pinsent, shown in 2007, plays a forlorn husband who watches his Alzheimer's-stricken wife fall in love with another man in Sarah Polley's debut feature Away From Her.
(Canadian Press)

Nevertheless, the former child actor is heading into the Genies on Monday night with several nominations.

The film is up for best picture and best adapted screenplay, while actors Gordon Pinsent and Christie are in the running in their categories, and Kristen Thomson, who plays a nurse in the movie, is on the list for best supporting actress.

Polley herself is getting a Claude Jutra Award for best first feature film as well being nominated for best director.

"It's thrilling, it's starting to feel slightly ridiculous, all the attention, but I am very, very grateful for it," Polley said at the glitzy luncheon.

Among the 200 guests at the event were the Genies' host, TV actor Sandra Oh, as well as Away From Her executive producer Atom Egoyan and Piers Handling, head of the Toronto International Film Festival.

American comedian Robin Williams, in town shooting a film, happened to be circling the dining room of the Windsor Arms Hotel as the luncheon was winding down.

"I thought it was amazing," said Williams, referring to Polley's film. "It's a very painful but also a very delicate and, in a weird way, a very romantic story about Alzheimer's. It was extraordinary."

Daniel Day-Lewis biggest fan

The 77-year-old Pinsent, who plays the dejected husband who watches his Alzheimer's-stricken wife fall for another man, says he's just "glad to be in the mix."

He joked that his biggest fan, best actor Oscar-winner Daniel Day-Lewis, couldn't make it to the brunch. Day-Lewis has said he was blown away by Pinsent's performance.

"He told me he had a cold," said Pinsent. "Seriously, though, I'll tell you, those comments, the one from him and so on, they make up for a lot of stuff."

Away From Her will be running in the best-picture category against:

• Days of Darkness.
• Continental, a Film Without Guns.
• Eastern Promises.
• Shake Hands with the Devil.

Pinsent is also up against Roy Dupuis (Shake Hands with the Devil), Marc Labreche (Days of Darkness), Claude Legault (The 3 Little Pigs) and Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises ).

Christie's competitors include Anne-Marie Cadieux (You), Ellen Page (The Tracey Fragments), Molly Parker (Who Loves the Sun) and Beatrice Picard (My Aunt Aline).

The Genies air Monday night on E! at 10 p.m. ET.

 

With files from the Canadian Press