Quebec Cinema gala announces nominations

Director Sebastien Pilote accepts the award for Best Canadian Feature Film for "The Fireflies Are Gone (La disparition des lucioles)" during the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival Awards Ceremony in Toronto on Sunday, September 16, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin

Ivan Grbovic's Les oiseaux ivres (Drunken Birds) and Sébastien Pilote's Maria Chapdelaine will be the favourites at the next Gala Québec Cinéma, each film having received 16 nominations.

The two films are nominated in the categories of best film, best direction and best art direction.

Francis Leclerc's L'arracheuse de temps (The Time Thief) is nominated in 13 categories and Tracey Deer's Beans has 11 nominations.

In addition to Grbovic's and Pilote's features, the best film category includes Beans, Maxime Giroux's Norbourg and Kaveh Nabatian's Sin La Habana.

The nominees for best leading actress are Danielle Fichaud for Aline, Hélène Florent for Les oiseaux ivres, Nour Belkhiria for Une révision (A Revision), Pascale Bussières for Bootlegger and Émilie Bierre for Le guide de la famille parfaite (The Guide to the Perfect Family).

As for the male actors, the finalists are Nguyen Thanh Tri for Le meilleur pays du monde (The Greatest Country in the World), Patrice Robitaille for Une révision, Robert Naylor for Le bruit des moteurs (The Noise of Engines), Sylvain Marcel for Aline and Vincent-Guillaume Otis for Norbourg.

A tribute award will be awarded to the actress Louise Portal.

In addition, this year, viewers will choose the winner of the Iris Prix du public from among ten films, namely Aline, L'arracheuse de temps, Au revoir le bonheur (Goodbye Happiness), Le guide de la famille parfaite, Maria, Maria Chapdelaine, Les oiseaux ivres, Sam, La parfaite victime (Perfect Victim) and Une révision.

The award usually highlights the five films with the highest number of theatre admissions in Quebec.

"In this unusual season, which was once again marked by the closure of theatres from December to February, and in support of our creators and our theatres, Québec Cinéma has decided to expand the Iris Prix du Public 2022 to ten films, including feature-length fiction and documentary films," said the organization in a press release.

The public vote will start in mid-May.

The 24th Gala Québec Cinéma, hosted by actress Geneviève Schmidt, will take place on June 5.

— This report was first published in French by The Canadian Press on April 14, 2022.