Congratulations, Sarah Polley

Sarah Polley, the Torontonian well-known in Canada as an actress, has received an Oscar nomination for her writing.

Along with directing Away from Her, Polley also adapted the script. The source material is an Alice Munro short story, "The Bear Came Over the Mountain". When the Academy Award nominations were announced today, Polley's name was among those called for the Best Adapted Screenplay category.

• Read "The Bear Came Over the Mountain" by Alice Munro, made available online by The New Yorker.
• Read About.com Hollywood Guide Rebecca Murray's article on Polley and Away from Her.

The Torontonian who didn't receive any nominations was David Cronenberg. His film, Eastern Promises, won the People's Choice Award at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, but the only related academy nomination was Viggo Mortensen for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role. Before his role in Eastern Promises Mortensen was the leading man in another Cronenberg film, A History of Violence.

• Read About.com Hollywood Guide Rebecca Murray's Eastern Promises review
• Or read Murray's interview with Cronenberg about A History of Violence and choosing Mortensen for that film.

Of course the rest of Canada made a fantastic showing via Juno. Although this isn't a Canadian production, director Jason Reitman, star Ellen Page and co-star Michael Cera are all Canadians. Page has been nominated for Best Performance by a Leading Actress, Reitman is in the running for Best Direction, and the film itself is up for Best Picture. As well, the NFB short "Madame Tutli-Putli" is nominated for Best Animated Short Film.

I had my usual reaction to the nominations announcement - it reminded me of how many films I meant to see, but haven't yet. Juno was already high on that list, but now it's shot up to the top. Since I'm a bit of a screenplay nerd, I figure it's also time to add Away from Her to the list.

How the Oscars will play out is up in the air due to the writers strike, but the show is scheduled for February 24th. For the full nominations list, visit the nominations page on the Academy website.