Rush featured in Governor General's Performing Arts Awards short film "Inner Rush" - Now Available

Starting Saturday, May 5, at 10:30 p.m. ET, Canadians everywhere can watch the National Film Board of Canada’s online film tributes to rock legends Rush, filmmaker Deepa Mehta, comedienne Mary Walsh and more, as the NFB honours the 2012 laureates of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards at the NFB.ca Screening Room and via the NFB’s apps for smartphones, tablets and connected TV.

For the fifth consecutive year, the NFB has brought together acclaimed Canadian filmmakers and NFB producers to craft a series of short signature works honouring the recipients of Canada’s most prestigious performing arts awards, presented at the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Gala at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on May 5, 2012. Included in this year's tributes is the film "Inner Rush":

Inner Rush celebrates the career of legendary rock trio Rush and members Geddy Lee, Alex Lifeson and Neil Peart. Recipients of the Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award, Rush have had the most consecutive gold or platinum studio albums in rock history after the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Inner Rush is directed by Toronto-based filmmaker and cinematographer Chris Romeike and produced by Gerry Flahive.

About the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards

The Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards (GGPAA) are Canada’s foremost distinction for excellence in the performing arts, recognizing a stellar array of artists and arts volunteers for their outstanding lifetime contribution to Canada’s cultural life. The Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards were created in 1992 under the patronage of the Right Honourable Ramon John Hnatyshyn (1934–2002), then Governor General of Canada. Today, His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston is the Awards’ patron.

Six Lifetime Artistic Achievement Awards are given each year for excellence in the fields of theatre, dance, classical music, popular music, broadcasting and film. Two complementary awards are also conferred: the Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Voluntarism in the Performing Arts, which recognizes the outstanding contribution by an individual or group in voluntary service to the performing arts in Canada; and the National Arts Centre Award, which recognizes work of an extraordinary nature by an individual artist or company in the past performance year.

About the NFB

Canada’s public producer and distributor, the National Film Board of Canada creates interactive works, social-issue documentaries, auteur animation and alternative dramas that provide the world with a unique Canadian perspective. The NFB is developing the entertainment forms of the future in groundbreaking interactive productions, while pioneering new directions in 3D stereoscopic film, community-based media, and more. It works in collaboration with emerging and established filmmakers, digital media creators and co-producers in every region of Canada, with Aboriginal and culturally diverse communities, as well as partners around the world. Since the NFB’s founding in 1939, it has created over 13,000 productions and won over 5,000 awards, including 6 Webbys, 12 Oscars and more than 90 Genies. Over 2,000 NFB productions can be streamed online, at the Screening Room as well as via partnerships with the world’s leading video portals, while the NFB’s growing family of apps for smartphones, tablets and connected TV delivers the experience of cinema to Canadians everywhere.

- Thanks to Jennifer Mair for the headsup!