Aboriginal productions earn Gemini nominations

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The 21st annual Gemini Awards will be handed out during a series of ceremonies being held in October and November, recognizing the best in Canadian television programming.

The Gemini Awards national broadcast gala will be held in Vancouver on Nov. 4, marking the first time the gala event will be held outside of Toronto.

The television movie One Dead Indian, a dramatization of the events surrounding the shooting death of Dudley George during a Native occupation of Ipperwash Provincial Park in 1995, has garnered a number of nominations including Best TV Movie, Best Direction in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series, Best Picture Editing in a Dramatic Program or Series, Best Sound in a Dramatic Program and Best Achievement in Casting. Gary Farmer, who portrayed Judas George in the movie, has been nominated in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series category.

The third season of the one-hour drama series Moccasin Flats has also earned a number of nominations. The show has been nominated for Best Dramatic Series and Best Original Music Score for a Dramatic Series. Andrea Menard, who portrays Constable Amanda Strongeagle on the show, has been nominated in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Continuing Lead Dramatic Role category. Menard is also up for an award in the Best Performance in a Performing Arts Program or Series category for her performance in the made-for-television movie version of her hit one-woman stage show, The Velvet Devil.

Jordan Wheeler and fellow writers Virginia Thompson and Robert de Lint have been nominated for a Gemini in the Best Children's or Youth Fiction Program or Series for their work on renegadepress.com. Wheeler has also been nominated in the Best Writing in Children's or Youth Program or Series for his work on the renegadepress.com episode, The Rez.

The documentary Generations: A Century on the Siksika Reserve, which aired on CBC television, has been nominated for Best Biography Documentary Program.

Lorne Cardinal and his castmates on Corner Gas have been nominated in the Best Ensemble Performance in a Comedy Program or Series for their work in the episode Merry Gasmas, and performer Derek Miller is up for a Gemini, nominated in the Best Performance or Host in a Variety Program or Series category for his work on the Toronto Jams episode of The T.O. Variety Show.

Seven special awards will also be handed out as part of this year's Gemini's including the Canada Award, given to mainstream television programming that reflects Canada's racial and cultural diversity.

This year's Canada Award will be given to Wapos Bay-There's No "I" in Hockey, written and directed by Dennis Jackson and produced by Dennis Jackson, Melanie Jackson, Anand Ramayya and Michael Scott. Co-produced by the National Film Board and aired on APTN, Wapos Bay-There's No "I" in Hockey is the pilot episode for a Wapos Bay series that follows the adventures of three Cree children in the fictional community of Wapos Bay. The series, like the award-winning Christmas at Wapos Bay short that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2002, uses stop motion claymation to tell its tales.

The Canada Award will be handed out during the Gemini Industry Galas held in Toronto from Oct. 16 to 18.