Film, Arts, etc
Best Actor
1. William Shatner
2. Roy Dupuis
3. Rémy Girard
4. Kiefer Sutherland
5. Michel Côté
6. Omari Newton
7. Jay Baruchel
8. Elias Toufexis
9. Trent Pardy
10. Donald Sutherland
As is clear (yet) again this year, Mirror readers have still not worked the Star Trek fromage thing out of their collective system. And Roy Dupuis, the ubiquitous vedette of screens big and small, is again at #2. Rémy Girard is a no-brainer, given his star turn in both The Barbarian Invasions and the massive hit TV sensation Les Bougon. Michel Côté gets spot #5 no doubt due to his performance as Patrick Huard's shrink in Sur le seuil. Meanwhile, theatre personalities Elias Toufexis and Trent Pardy are rapidly rising. While appearing in a production of Coriolanus at the Saidye last fall, Pardy drew comparisons to James Dean, Marlon Brando and Eminem.
Best Actress
1. Jessica Paré
2. Elisha Cuthbert
3. Marie-Josée Croze
4. Karen Simpson
5. Pascale Bussières
6. Lydia Lockett
7. Stephenie Farrell
8. Jacinthe Lague
9. Marina Orsini
10. Karine Vanasse
Jessica Paré moves back into first place this year, with Saved by the Belles star Karen Simpson and Marina Orsini and Pascale Bussières making return appearances. Marie-Josée Croze and Elisha Cuthbert debut in the category, while local thespian entities Stephenie Farrell (last year's #1), Jacinthe Lague and Karine Vanasse also make the cut.
Best Local Filmmaker
1. Denys Arcand
2. Ziad Touma
3. Pierre Falardeau
4. Kidnapper Films•
5. Ben Addelman & Samir Mallal
6. Louis Belanger
7. Daniel Bitton
8. Robert Lepage
9. Automatic Vaudeville Studios
10. Brenda Keesal
Given the events of the past year, it comes as no surprise that Denys Arcand would take this category, and with a sizeable lead. The Barbarian Invasions ended up invading virtually every foreign movie awards ceremony imaginable, from Cannes to the Oscars to the Césars. Ziad Touma, the man behind both drag epic Saved by the Belles and a number of episodes of the TV show Kink, comes in second. Category newcomers Ben Addelman and Samir Mallal are celebrated for the NFB production Discordia, their joint effort at setting the record straight on the Concordia Netanyahu riots. Brenda Keesal, creator of the polarizing love-across-racial-divides romance Jack & Ella, rounds out the list.
Best Play
1. Mambo Italiano
2. Coriolanus
3. Blue/Orange
4. Evita
5. The Drawer Boy
6. The Scavenger's Daughter
7. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
8. Dead Dolls Capitalism Cabaret
9. The Shape of Things
10. Ali & Ali & the Axis Of Evil
Though it hasn't seen a local stage since late 2002, Steve Galluccio's Little Italy coming-out comedy Mambo Italiano knows something about staying power, held over twice at the Centaur and spawning a film to boot. (The play is also coming back, by popular demand, to the Centaur in the fall.) On its heels is critics' choice Coriolanus from Madd Harold's Gravy Bath Productions, whose Henry. October. 1970 shared first place with Mambo last year.
Best Dance Company/Choreographer
1. La La La Human Steps
2. Solid State
3. Les Grands Ballets Canadiens
4. O Vertigo
5. 8 Count
6. Cirque du Soleil
7. Illmatic Styles
8. Rubberbandance Group
9. Tammy Forsythe
10. Marie Chouinard
La La La, who formalized the "crash-and-burn" style of modern dance, do the opposite when it comes to popularity. They're followed for the second year by B-girl collective Solid State and the more mannerly Les Grands Ballets Canadiens. Kudos as well to Tammy Forsythe, who picked up a Festival internationale de nouvelle danse (RIP) Public Choice Award last fall.
Best Spoken Word Act
1. Catherine Kidd
2. Lydia Lockett
3. Coco Café
4. Fortner Anderson
5. Stephen Thomas
6. Paula Belina
7. Kaie Kellough
8. Alexis O'Hara
9. Kalmunity
10. Memo
Fa-mil-iar voi-ces pre-vaaaail, with Catherine Kidd taking tops (see story, p. 27), followed by Coco Café regular Lydia Lockett, then Coco Café as a collective. Newcomers Kalmunity, who have made plenty of noise in the past year with their earthy music and word improv, make the cut and will likely stick around awhile.
Girl next door makes good
 Elisha Cuthbert goes from Greenfield Park to Hollywood and battles to keep her clothes on
by CHRIS BARRY
Mirror: How did you get in to acting anyway?
Elisha Cuthbert: In Montreal, I was first introduced to a film set as an extra and just fell in love with the whole process. So I started auditioning for speaking roles and it went from there.
M: Did you know that, as we speak, it looks like you're going to finish second in our Best of Montreal Best Local Actress category and are also in the running for Most Pokable Local Female… or something like that?
EC: Really, oh that's so nice. [pause] Did you just say pokable? Really, that's the category?
M: Something like that. The exact name of the category escapes me right now, but that's the essence of it. Either way, might this be the highlight of your career to date?
EC: Yeah, this is big.
M: Hey, was it a major battle to keep your clothes on filming The Girl Next Door?
EC: Yeah, oh yeah, a huge battle. Especially when you consider what kind of film it was. But I don't think I have to do those kinds of things just to be where I'm at now. So yeah, I'm proud of that. But it was a very difficult process.
M: I'll bet. Given that a bit of skin might have upped the box office receipts somewhat…
EC: I don't really know how much the opening week would have gone up had I done such a thing. The bottom line for me was that if I was going to go there, right in my second scene of the film, what else would there be to look forward to for the next two hours of the movie? So I think I had a pretty good little argument to put to the studio, and they trusted me, which was pretty cool.
M: When's the last time you were here in Montreal?
EC: Christmas, to see my family. I stayed until New Year's Eve and left.
M: Are all your friends from high school jealous?
EC: I don't have a lot of friends from Montreal, like maybe three that I'm really close to. The rest I don't talk to so much. It's just that it's hard when you move away from home.
M: Would you recommend that other actresses leave Montreal for life in L.A.?
EC: Not if you don't feel like you're ready. It's very expensive and it's very difficult because you have to be determined about what you want. Those first six months were the most difficult time in my life, so far. I mean, I'm still young, 21. But if they feel like they're ready, then sure, it's worth trying.
M: In the winter months do you and Kiefer ever giggle on set about how your fellow countrymen are all suffering up here in the sub-Artic wasteland?
EC: No, it's more like whenever the hockey games are on we're both bummed out that we're not there. It's more the opposite actually. Although, it's true the weather is great here in L.A.
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Best Museum
1. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
2. Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art
3. McCord Museum
4. Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA)
5. Redpath Museum
6. Pointe-à-Callière
7. Biodome
8. Just for Laughs
9. Montreal Holocaust Memorial Museum
10. iSci
Best Gallery
1. Zeke's
2. VAV Gallery
3. 303
4. Liane and Danny Taran Gallery, Saidye Bronfman Centre
5. Belgo
6. Shayne Art
7. Fly
8. Rad'a
9. Noël Guyomarc'h
10. Clark
Zeke's hits a triple, winning Best Gallery for the third year in a row with his rundown walk-up on the Main, designed to give a first solo show to breaking-out artists. Following Concordia's VAV, Gallery 303 moved from off the list all the way to #3 this year, likely with a little help from new curators the group of n.
Best Art Exhibit
1. Global Village: The '60s (MMFA)
2. Art Matters (various locations)
3. Bad Women Gone Worse (Second Cup, 3695 St-Laurent)
4. Nan Goldin (MAC)
5. Sam Flores and Giant (Off the Hook)
6. Sharon Ramsey (Montreal Athletic Association)
7. Habitat/04 (Darling Foundry)
8. Under Pressure (behind Foufounes)
9. Artists Against the Occupation (MAI)
10. Heidi Taillefer (O Patro Vys)
The MMFA's much-hyped '60s spectacular edged out Concordia's from-the-ground-up Art Matters festival, which moved up from fifth spot. In the same vein, big names like Nan Goldin and Brian Jungen (Habitat/04) share the list with somewhat lesser knowns like Sharon Ramsey and N. Clayton (Bad Women Gone Worse), not to mention the gas-masked mob who painted the walls at Under Pressure last August.
Best Author
1. Mordecai Richler
2. Yann Martel
3. Leonard Cohen
4. Anthony Kokx
5. Bill Brownstein
6. Neale McDevitt
7. Jon Paul Fiorentino
8. Joel Yanofsky
9. Jason Gallagher
10. Michel Tremblay
The late Mordecai keeps his throne atop Booker Prize winner Yann Martel, whose Life of Pi will see the big screen soon enough. Meanwhile Leonard Cohen, Mr. Zen in the art of making Best Author, though he hasn't written a book in several years, rounds out the top three. Prolific local playwright Anthony Kokx follows suit.
Best Magazine/Zine
1. Vice
2. Strut
3. Maisonneuve
4. Fish Piss
5. Montreal Nightlife
6. Streeteaters
7. Urbania
8. Under Pressure
9. M.E. (defunct)
10. Motel
Vice isn't really a Montreal publication but it was born here and - unlike Maxim, which we definitely couldn't put on the list - Montrealers in plaid pants and jester hats still supply a good chunk of their fashion don'ts. Newcomers such as local fashion mag Strut, the somewhat headier Maisonneuve and catchy franco upstart Urbania make their first appearance. Despite the heavier competition, Streeteaters, first in last year's Best Zine category, hangs on tight. And thanks to everyone who voted for the Mirror; technically we would have won, but technically we're not a magazine.
Best Cartoonist
1. Aislin
2. Serge Chapleau
3. Memo from ICM
4. Billy Mavreas
5. Rick Trembles
6. Howard Chackowicz
7. Sherwin Tjia
8. Rupert Bottenberg
9. Marc Bell
10. Alex Fellows
Best Fashion Designer
1. Dubuc
2. Lydia Lukidis
3. Yso
4. Ritual Designs
5. Kitchen Orange
6. Space Fb (François Beauregard)
7. GG Creations
8. Simon Chang
9. Umsteigen
10. Marie-Eve
Maybe it was all the hype over a new breed of straight yet fashion-savvy urban males dubbed "metrosexual" that pushed Philippe Dubuc to the top this year. "Men's roles are changing a lot," he was quoted as saying in these pages in 2001, "something I think has a lot to do with the women's liberation movement. It's had a really interesting effect on young men in particular; as a result they're willing to take more risks, they're allowed to be more sensitive and refined in character and in style." See? At any rate, Dubuc sashayed to the top over last year's winner, jewellery designer Lydia Lukidis of Cosmic Angels, with Yso Southidara's stand-out, asymmetrical styles, corset makers Ritual Designs and slick streetwear makers Kitchen Orange tight in tow. Then there's Space Fb, who make the hippest sweats in town and Genevieve Gould's GG Creations. And look: 2004 Noisemakers Umsteigen are making noise, just like we told ya.
Best Graffiti Crew
1. Kops crew
2. Island City Monsters (ICM)
3. HYH
4. TA (Team Autobot)
5. Under Pressure
6. Flow
7. Omen
8. HW (Home Wreckers)
Best Festival
1. Jazz Festival
2. Just for Laughs
3. Fringe Festival
4. Montreal Beer Festival
5. Pop Montreal
6. Fantasia
7. Montreal World Film Festival
8. Main Madness
9. DIVERS/CITÉ
10. Reggae Festival (soon!)
Brace yourselves, here they come again...
Taking the plunge
 Catherine Kidd performs Sea Peach from the Pacific Ocean to the Scottish highlands
by VINCENT TINGUELY
Since the wildly successful staging of her solo show Sea Peach at Bain St-Michel last year - which won the Montreal English Critics Circle Award for Best New Text of 2003 - Catherine Kidd has toured parts of the show in festivals in Scotland, England and Norway. Now she's gearing up for summer festivals in Whitehorse and Ottawa, as well as mounting Sea Peach in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. "On the first day of the year I took the plunge in Vancouver, the polar bear swim," Kidd explains, "and I decided to try to live this year that way - so I'm taking the plunge and going to Edinburgh."
Kidd has family in Edinburgh: "My dad is from there, and he's probably the person who's inspired me most." To celebrate her Scottish heritage and raise funds for the Fringe show, she's putting on TArts and TArtans this Sunday. The show features host Mike Paterson in a kilt, the first ever Indoor Highland Games, the Shamefuls, Annabelle Chvostek and Anna Friz and their wonderful Prayer Machine, and of course Kidd herself.
TArts and TArtans, this Sunday, May 9, 8 p.m., at La Sala Rossa, $10–$15. There's also a garage sale from noon until 3 p.m.
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