Actor Marke Andrews Vancouver Sun Lunch With Charles, Suspicious River and Da Vinci's Inquest were the big winners at this weekend's 2001 Leo Awards, which recognize achievements in film and television production in B.C.

In the feature-length drama category, Michael Parker won best director and best screenwriter honours for Lunch With Charles, a road movie about two couples looking for answers as they travel through B.C. The dark drama Suspicious River, which has yet to be released commercially, captured the best feature-length drama prize. Da Vinci's Inquest won best dramatic series at the third annual awards, held Saturday at the Hotel Vancouver.

Deanne Henry, who won the best performance by a female Leo for the Do You Wanna Dance? episode of Da Vinci's Inquest, gave one of the best acceptance speeches as she acknowledged the talent in Vancouver and the province. "This town is full of awesome talent just waiting for the right part," she told the overflow crowd, advising her colleagues to "hang in there, because lightning strikes."

Nicholas Campbell, who was in Toronto working on a film, won best performance by a male in a dramatic series for Da Vinci's Inquest. In the feature-film category, Callum Keith Rennie won best performance by a male for Suspicious River, and young Alexandra Purvis won best female performance for her role in Marine Life. The evening got off to a lively start with host Christine Lippa commenting on the logistics of finding the right gown, and co-presenters Kevin Sorbo and Michelle Goh exchanging caustic comments.

After Goh, a huge star in Asia, took a dig at Sorbo's B.C.-made series Gene Rodenberry's Andromeda, the former Hercules star replied, "Does she have a green card?" Josh Byer, who won a best director Leo for a student production with Bob Appleby Is a Loser, told the crowd the last thing he won was a fourth-grade spelling bee and "this is so much better."

Ian Hanomansing, in accepting a Leo for the CBC's Canada Now news show, sported a nasty welt under his eye, the result of a hockey game earlier that day. Outstanding achievement awards went to CBC Television British Columbia, and to Dianne Neufeld, who helped make Vancouver the third-largest film and television production centre in North America.

Neufeld sounded like the essential Canadian when, in her acceptance speech, she said, "Who knew, eh, that it was going to turn out like this?" The Leo Awards received a record 671 eligible submissions, up from last year's 535.