20th Genie Awards

The 20th Genie Awards were held on January 30, 2000, by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, to honour films released in 1999. The ceremony aired live on CBC Television, and a post-event highlights show aired on Radio Canada.

Eyebrows were raised when the nominations were dominated by 21 foreign artists; the academy had eliminated an old ruling that prevented foreign talent in minority Canadian co-productions from being eligible for Genie awards. With 152 nominees in total, there was no imbalance, but the fact that the foreign-artist nominations dominated the performance categories bothered many, and raised questions about whether or not the Genies were fulfilling their role of recognizing Canadian achievement and promoting Canadian talent.

This year's awards ceremony, which was hosted by actor Patrick McKenna, was dominated by István Szabó's Sunshine, Atom Egoyan's Felicia's Journey and Jeremy Podeswa's The Five Senses.