David Cronenberg sweeps Director's Guild of Canada awards

David Cronenbergs crime drama, A History of Violence, grabbed four feature film prizes at the Directors Guild of Canada Awards.

The film, starring Viggo Mortensen, also captured awards for best film, best director, best sound editing and best picture editing.

It missed out on best production design,its fifth nomination, which was awarded toAtom Egoyans thriller Where the Truth Lies, starring Colin Firth and Kevin Bacon.

Cronenberg, whose past movies include Crash, Spider and Existenz, adapted the plot from a graphic novel of the same name by John Wagner and Vince Locke.

The story focuses on Tom Stall (Mortensen), a small-town family man whose bucolic life is up-ended when he saves lives while thwarting a robbery.Stalls dark past begins to catch up with him as he attracts the attention of some big-city gangsters.

The film also starred Ed Harris, Maria Bello as Stalls wife and William Hurt, who snagged an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor.

The big winner in the television category was Human Trafficking, an unflinching look at the sex slave industry starring Mira Sorvino and Donald Sutherland.

The drama took home the prizes for best film, best director for Christian Duguay and best production design.

And the now-defunct television series Slings and Arrows, starring Paul Gross as an eccentric theatre artistic director, came away with best TV drama series and best picture editing in a television series.Its three-year run won raves both in Canada and the U.S.

Other winners at the Saturday night gala in Toronto include:

• Best Documentary: Hitlers Children
• Best Family Television Movie/Mini-Series: Spirit Bear
• Best Comedy Television Series: Northern Town
• Best Picture Editing, Television Movie/Mini Series: Canada Vs. Russia 1972
• Best Sound Editing, Television Series: Puppets Who Kill

The Directors Guild of Canada represents more than 3,800 professionals working in film and television in the areas of direction, design, production and editing. Itnegotiates collective agreements and lobbies on behalf of its members.