Sarah Polley to receive Jutra trophy at Genies

Canadian director Sarah Polley will be honoured with the 2008 Claude Jutra Award for her debut feature Away From Her at the Genie gala show.

The 29-year-old former child star has been collecting accolades and awards for her film about a couple dealing with a woman's descent into Alzheimer's, starring Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent.

Away From Her — adapted from a short story by Alice Munro — has been nominated for seven Genies, which will be handed out on March 3rd in Toronto. The Genies are English Canada's most prominent film awards.

The Claude Jutra Award recognizes outstanding achievement by a first-time feature film director and was created in 1993 in honour of the late Quebec director.

The film is up for adapted screenplay at the Academy Awards and Christie is up for best actress.

Polley has said she has been bowled over by the attention her film has been getting.

"It's totally shocking to me," Polley told the Los Angeles Times in a recent article. "I think I was the least-prepared person who has ever been nominated for an Academy Award."

Polley says she laboured hard to bring Munro's short story, The Bear Came Over the Mountain, to the screen.

"[Munro] is so eloquent, in terms of people's interior lives, and that's such an impossible thing to convey."

Meanwhile, Christie has been getting just as much attention.

The 66-year-old British thespian has been showered with nominations and trophies for her portrayal of a woman stricken with Alzheimer's.

Christie has already garnered a Golden Globe and a Screen Actor's Guild statuette for her performance.