by MATTHEW HAYS

Make no mistake: the idea that Michael Moore was going to get up and make an extreme political statement on Sunday night was not really a surprise. He'd already made a promise to do so, saying he was going to decry U.S. President Bush and the current military attack on Iraq in his acceptance speech, should he have to make one.

And Malcolm Clarke, the Montreal-based co-director of the Oscar-nominated Prisoner of Paradise, said he and co-director Stuart Sender had already accepted that Bowling for Columbine was going to get the award, calling the momentum behind the anti-gun feature a "juggernaut."

"When you share a stage with Michael Moore, you know the man's going to do what he does," Clarke says, on the phone from L.A. "I think it was regrettable, that it was done quite that way. We [the nominees for Best Documentary Feature] had talked in the weeks before the Oscars, and we'd all agreed we were going to say something, regardless of who the winners were. But that's Michael: he likes to stir the hornet's nest."

Clarke says the idea that he and the other nominees would accompany Moore onstage was not planned. Instead, after his name was called, Moore urged the others to come with him. Clarke knew something extreme would be said, but was surprised at the loud chorus of boos, effectively making Moore the first winner ever to be booed off the Oscar stage in its 75-year history. "There was a lot of latitude given to other winners in regards to the 45-second speech time limit," Clarke says. "But the music for Moore started right at the 45-second mark." As for host Steve Martin's joke that Teamsters were helping Moore into the trunk of a limousine, in fact, at that point Clarke recalls that Moore was receiving a standing ovation from well over 100 journalists in the press gallery.

As for response to Moore, Clarke points out that "Michael's delivery was pretty aggressive, as opposed to Adrien Brody's. Bush supporters felt they had the right to retaliate."

The Montreal Student Film and Video Festival unreels this Wednesday, April 2, at the AMC Forum at 7:30 p.m. Organizers have worked overtime to anthologize some of the very best work from students throughout the city, and several prizes will be announced during the event.

While war is being waged in Iraq in the name of peace, a thoughtful, insightful documentary airs on CBC tonight, Thursday, March 27 at 9 p.m. Return to Kandahar features Nelofer Pazira, the star of the hit film Kandahar, as she returns to her native Afghanistan to investigate changes in the war-torn country.

Finally, the results of our seventh annual Alternative Academy Awards race. Surpisingly, no one - that's right, not one contestant - got more than four correct. Thus of the hundreds who entered, those 22 who got four right were left to contend for the grand prizes. This pile of entry forms was carefully thrown down a flight of stairs. Alex Cooper's made it the furthest, so he gets first prize (an Ex-Centris pass valid for six screenings and four double Alliance-Atlantis-Vivafilm run-of-engagement passes). Vicky Parisella's made it almost as far, so she gets second (Cinéma du Parc membership card and three double Alliance-Atlantis-Vivafilm run-of-engagement passes), while Brenda Labelle's ballot (apparently the heaviest of the three) lands her in third spot (three double Alliance-Atlantis-Vivafilm run-of-engagement passes). Congrats to our winners and thanks to our sponsors and everyone who participated.

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