Toronto - "Polytechnique," Denis Villeneuve's haunting black-and-white rendering of the Montreal massacre, swept the big prizes at the Genie Awards on Monday night, but it was lingering controversy over Quebec phenom Xavier Dolan's lack of nominations that dominated chatter backstage.

Villeneuve's widely acclaimed retelling of the 1989 shooting collected trophies for best film, director and screenplay, winning in nine of the 11 categories in which it was nominated and bringing Villeneuve his second directing Genie, after 2000's "Maelstrom."

"I was not making this film for awards or the Cannes (International) Film Festival or film festivals," Villeneuve said backstage early in the evening.

"It was for people from my country. It was for me a deep, human, and cinematographic experience and I felt a heavy responsibility in each shot."

Star power at the awards show came by way of former "Dawson's Creek" idol Joshua Jackson, who was named best actor for his portrayal of a terminally ill man in "One Week" after walking the red carpet with actress girlfriend Diane Kruger.

"Something slightly preposterous"

But Dolan -- who broke out as a critical fave last year for his searing mother-son film, " I Killed My Mother" -- was conspicuously absent when it came time for him to accept the Claude Jutra Award, presented annually to a first-time filmmaker.

Kevin Tierney, vice chair of cinema at the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, accepted it on his behalf, revealing disappointment in the fact Dolan otherwise failed to garner nominations. Tierney suggested backstage that Dolan had been relegated to the "kiddie table."

"If you're going to give this one the best first film, how do you give another first film 11 nominations or (whatever)?" said Tierney, apparently referring to Charles Officer's "Nurse.Fighter.Boy," which had 10 nominations.

"There's something slightly preposterous (there)."

The Genie nominations are determined by juries made up of academy members, and Tierney said they can sometimes be "aberrant affairs."

"And this was, in my humble opinion, an aberration," he said.

The 21-year-old Dolan wrote, directed and starred in "I Killed My Mother," which earned three prizes at the Cannes International Film Festival, was named Canada's submission to the Oscars for best foreign-language film, and dominated last month's Jutra Awards in Quebec, where it was named best film, best screenplay and best actress.

"Why isn't ('I Killed My Mother') in every category?" actress Martha Burns said unprompted backstage while speaking about her supporting actress win for "Love & Savagery. "I'm sorry that Xavier isn't here."

"I think it's sad," Patrick Roy of Alliance Vivafilm added backstage after accepting the Golden Reel Award for "De pere en flic" ("Father and Guns").

"I think Xavier did a great film and he should have been here with us tonight with many nominations."

Genies' 30th anniversary

Multiple winners included Kari Skogland's IRA thriller "Fifty Dead Men Walking," which claimed best adapted screenplay and art direction, and the Quebec fantasy, "Grande Ourse: La Cle des possibles" ("The Master Key"), which earned best make-up and original score.

The urban mother-son tale "Nurse.Fighter.Boy" won just one of its 10 nominations, for best song, while the Inuit survival story "Before Tomorrow," snagged best costume design after receiving nods in nine categories.

Meanwhile, "The Cat Came Back" animator Cordell Barker earned a Genie for his third NFB short, "Runaway."

Monday's televised gala also marked the Genies' 30th anniversary and featured a look back at its history with a video tribute.

"Polytechnique" stars Karine Vanasse in a stark look at one of Canada's darkest days, and was filmed in both English and French. Earlier this year it won the $10,000 Rogers Best Canadian Film Award from the Toronto Film Critics Association and last month took five Jutras.

"It was a struggle to keep it in balance from the first day until the end," Villeneuve said of the sensitive material, which documents the killing of 14 women at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique engineering school on Dec. 6, 1989.

"It was very difficult to find an angle and to have the right tone and it was from day one until the end always a moral and political challenge."

Film editor Richard Comeau, who also took home a trophy, said his task involved gauging the appropriate level of violence for a horrific story rooted in reality. He says he removed most of a four-minute sequence near the end in which gunman Marc Lepine heads into a classroom and picks off students one by one.

"That's why the movie is so short, we just cut out a lot of violence because there's only so much you can take as an audience," said Comeau.

"Plus the violence is even harder to take because it's specifically aimed at women and it's just so real."

The Genies were broadcast on the Independent Film Channel and webcast on CBC.ca. They are set to be repeated May 9 on MFEST and Movie Central.