Montreal's Oscar contenders suit up for awards

As the Academy Awards gala approaches, threeCanadian Oscar contendersgot an important step out of the way this week: their tuxedos.

Montreal-based filmmakers Kim Nguyen, Ariel Nasr and Yan England were fitted for their Oscar night outfits at Montreal shop Sartorialto Thursday afternoon.

"I'm going to wear this tux to my wedding and probably every formal event until I die," producer Ariel Nasr, nominated for his live action short Buzkashi Boys, quipped to CBC News.

"[I'm looking forward to] just being there with the whole team and sharing the moment with the actors, the kids who are in the film," he said of Fawad Mohammadi and Jawanmard Paiz, who star in the coming-of-age film about youngsters dreaming of becoming professional buzkashi players (the polo-like Afghan national sport).

"We're bringing the two main actors from Kabul. It will be great to see them againit's been almost a year."

Director Kim Nguyen, whose child soldier drama War Witch (Rebelle) is a best foreign film contender, also joked about getting a bit of lavish sartorial treatment ahead of the Oscars.

"As directors, we're always a little bit pretentious, so yeah, I guess I'm aware of my image. That's how directors are," he joked, adding however that he's trying to remain "lighthearted" ahead of the Feb. 24 telecast.

"We did our job to get the film known. I saw all the [nominated foreign] films. It's really an honour to be a part of...It's clear that with Amour and [Michael] Haneke and all the legacy that it carries, we're all the underdogs. But being the underdog is a comfortable place to be in."

For England, an actor-filmmaker who lived in Los Angeles for five years, he's looking forward to returning to the Dolby Theatre (formerly known as the Kodak). Feeling somewhat superstitious, he had never climbed the steps at the famed Oscar venue.

"It's surely going to be a lot of fun on that day to take just one at a time...enjoying every step of the way," said the Montrealer, also a live-action short nominee for his film Henry.

Inspired by England's maternal grandfather, the film explores themes of love, old age and memory in its story of an elderly pianist dreaming of a final duet with his violist wife.

The 85th annual Academy Awards will be broadcast from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on Feb. 24 and will air live in more than 225 countries.