Award
The
Prix Iris
is a Canadian film award, presented annually by
Quebec Cinema
, which recognizes talent and achievement in the mainly
francophone
feature film industry in
Quebec
.
[1]
Until 2016, it was known as the
Jutra Award
(
Prix Jutra
, with the ceremony called
La Soiree des Jutra
) in memory of influential Quebec film director
Claude Jutra
, but Jutra's name was withdrawn from the awards following the publication of
Yves Lever
's biography of Jutra, which alleged that he had sexually abused children.
[2]
It should not be confused with the
Claude Jutra Award
, a special award presented by the
Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television
as part of the separate
Canadian Screen Awards
program which was also renamed in 2016 following the allegations against Jutra.
History
[
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]
Introduced in 1999, the awards are presented for
Best Film
and performance, writing and technical categories such as best actor, actress, director, screenplay, et cetera. Due to Quebec's majority francophone population, most films made in the province are French-language films, but English-language films made in the province are also fully eligible for nomination. The awards maintain slightly different eligibility criteria for international coproductions, however: a coproduction which surpasses the organization's criteria for "majority Quebecois" involvement is treated the same as a Quebec film, with full eligibility in all categories, while a coproduction which is classified as "minority Quebecois", such as the 2015 film
Brooklyn
, is eligible only in categories where a resident of Quebec is the nominee, and cannot be submitted for Best Film.
The initial creation of the awards sparked some concern that the idea of a separate award for Quebec films would undermine the pan-Canadian scope of the
Genie Awards
; Quebec Cinema clarified that it did not have, and would not impose, a rule that films could not be submitted for both awards, although at least one film producer,
Roger Frappier
, voluntarily declined to submit the films
August 32nd on Earth
(Un 32 aout sur terre)
and
2 Seconds
(2 secondes)
for Genie consideration at all on the grounds that since neither film was projected to be popular outside Quebec, they would purportedly not get any public relations or marketing benefit out of Genie nominations.
[3]
Frappier has not subsequently refused to submit other films to the Genies or the Canadian Screen Awards after 1999.
Following the withdrawal of Jutra's name from the award, the 2016 awards were presented solely under the name
Quebec Cinema
pending an announcement of the award's new permanent name.
[2]
The Prix Iris name was announced in October 2016.
[1]
The trophy was designed by sculptor
Charles Daudelin
.
[4]
The awards replaced the
prix Guy-L'Ecuyer
, created in
1987
by
Les Rendez-vous du cinema quebecois
in memory of actor
Guy L'Ecuyer
.
The
22nd Quebec Cinema Awards
ceremony, originally planned for June 7, 2020, was cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in Canada
;
[5]
unlike the
8th Canadian Screen Awards
, however, the award nominations had not yet been released when the cancellation of the ceremony was announced.
[6]
Nominations were still released on April 22,
[7]
and the winners were announced via
livestreaming
on June 10.
[8]
Following the death of influential Quebec filmmaker
Jean-Marc Vallee
in December 2021, there was some public demand that Quebec Cinema rename the awards to the Prix Vallee in his honour.
[9]
In 2022, Radio-Canada announced that due to declining ratings in recent years, it would not televise the 2023 awards, and was instead planning alternative ways to highlight Quebec film in its programming.
[10]
In February 2023, Quebec Cinema indicated that it was in negotiations with other broadcasters to carry the 25th Quebec Cinema Awards;
[11]
as of May 2023, however, the organization had confirmed only that the ceremony would not take place in its usual June scheduling.
[12]
In July 2023, Quebec Cinema announced that the ceremony would be held in December 2023, and broadcast by
Noovo
.
[13]
The organization has not yet confirmed whether the awards will be permanently rescheduled to December, or whether the 26th ceremony will be delayed to 2025 so that it can return to its traditional scheduling.
Ceremonies and Best Film winners
[
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]
Ceremony
|
Date
|
Best Picture
|
Host
|
Location
|
Broadcaster
|
1st
|
March 7, 1999
|
The Red Violin
(Le violon rouge)
|
Remy Girard
|
Theatre Saint-Denis
|
TVA
|
2nd
|
March 5, 2000
|
Post Mortem
|
Yves Jacques
and
Elise Guilbault
|
Monument-National
|
3rd
|
February 25, 2001
|
Maelstrom
|
Theatre Saint-Denis
|
4th
|
February 17, 2002
|
Soft Shell Man
(Un crabe dans la tete)
|
Sylvie Moreau
|
5th
|
February 23, 2003
|
Quebec-Montreal
|
Theatre Maisonneuve
|
Radio-Canada
|
6th
|
February 22, 2004
|
The Barbarian Invasions
(Les invasions barbares)
|
7th
|
February 20, 2005
|
Looking for Alexander
(Memoires affectives)
|
Patrick Huard
|
8th
|
March 19, 2006
|
C.R.A.Z.Y.
|
Normand Brathwaite
|
9th
|
February 18, 2007
|
Congorama
|
10th
|
March 9, 2008
|
Continental, a Film Without Guns
(Continental, un film sans fusil)
|
Theatre Saint-Denis
|
11th
|
March 29, 2009
|
The Necessities of Life
(Ce qu'il faut pour vivre)
|
Karine Vanasse
|
12th
|
March 28, 2010
|
I Killed My Mother
(J'ai tue ma mere)
|
Patrice L'Ecuyer
|
13th
|
March 13, 2011
|
Incendies
|
Yves Pelletier
and
Sylvie Moreau
|
14th
|
March 11, 2012
|
Monsieur Lazhar
|
15th
|
March 17, 2013
|
War Witch
(Rebelle)
|
Remy Girard
|
Salle Pierre-Mercure
|
16th
|
March 23, 2014
|
Louis Cyr
(Louis Cyr: L'homme le plus fort du monde)
|
Penelope McQuade
and
Laurent Paquin
|
Monument-National
|
17th
|
March 15, 2015
|
Mommy
|
Penelope McQuade
and
Stephane Bellavance
|
18th
|
March 20, 2016
|
The Passion of Augustine
(La passion d'Augustine)
|
19th
|
June 4, 2017
|
It's Only the End of the World
(Juste la fin du monde)
|
Guylaine Tremblay
and
Edith Cochrane
[
fr
]
|
Maison Radio-Canada
|
20th
|
June 3, 2018
|
Ravenous
(Les affames)
|
21st
|
June 2, 2019
|
1991
|
22nd
|
June 10, 2020
|
Antigone
|
No ceremony due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
;
[14]
winners were announced via livestreaming.
|
23rd
|
June 6, 2021
|
Goddess of the Fireflies
(La deesse des mouches a feu)
|
Genevieve Schmidt
|
Maison Radio-Canada
|
24th
|
June 5, 2022
|
Drunken Birds
(Les oiseaux ivres)
|
25th
|
December 10, 2023
|
Viking
|
Jay Du Temple
|
Grande Studios
|
Noovo
|
Most wins and nominations
[
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]
The following films received at least 10 nominations:
|
The following films received at least 5 awards (including non-competitive):
|
"Big Five" winners and nominees
[
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]
To date, eleven films were nominated for the "Big Five" categories:
Best Film
,
Best Director
,
Best Actor
,
Best Actress
and
Best Screenplay
.
- 2 Seconds
(2 secondes)
-
1999
- Tar Angel
(L’ange de goudron)
-
2002
- The Barbarian Invasions
(Les invasions barbares)
?
2004
- The Rocket
(Maurice Richard)
?
2006
- The Novena
(La neuvaine)
?
2006
- Days of Darkness
(L’age des tenebres)
?
2008
- I Killed My Mother
(J’ai tue ma mere)
?
2010
- Mommy
?
2015
- Two Lovers and a Bear
?
2017
- Family First
(Chien de garde)
?
2018
- Viking
?
2023
Categories
[
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]
See also
[
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]
References
[
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]
- ^
a
b
"Quebec film awards renamed Prix Iris after Claude Jutra sex scandal"
.
CBC News
, October 14, 2016.
- ^
a
b
"Quebec Cinema will rename Jutra awards; cities renaming streets"
.
CTV Montreal
, February 17, 2016.
- ^
Brendan Kelly, "Two film solitudes? Producer pulls films from Genies in favour of new Jutras".
Montreal Gazette
, November 23, 1998.
- ^
Townend, Paul.
"Prix Iris"
.
The Canadian Encyclopedia
. Retrieved
2017-12-18
.
- ^
"Le Gala Quebec Cinema annule a cause de la pandemie"
.
Ici Radio-Canada
, April 2, 2020.
- ^
Andre Duchesne,
"Prix Iris du cinema quebecois : le vote continue"
.
La Presse
, March 19, 2020.
- ^
Demers, Maxime (April 23, 2020).
"Prix Iris: les realisatrices a l'honneur"
.
Le Journal de Montreal
(in French)
. Retrieved
May 3,
2020
.
- ^
"Le film Antigone, grand gagnant du Gala Quebec Cinema avec six prix"
(in French).
Radio-Canada
. 10 June 2020
. Retrieved
11 June
2020
.
- ^
Sarah Rahmouni,
"Des appels pour que les prix Iris soient renommes Vallee"
.
Le Devoir
, December 29, 2021.
- ^
Hugo Dumas,
"Qui pleurera la mort du gala du cinema ?"
.
La Presse
, November 1, 2022.
- ^
Maxime Demers,
"Le Gala Quebec Cinema ≪n’est pas mort≫"
.
Le Journal de Montreal
, February 6, 2023.
- ^
Marc Cassivi,
"Mieux que rien"
.
La Presse
, May 31, 2023.
- ^
"Noovo sera le nouveau diffuseur du Gala Quebec Cinema"
.
Le Devoir
, July 5, 2023.
- ^
Demers, Maxime (23 April 2020).
"Prix Iris: les realisatrices a l'honneur"
.
Le Journal de Montreal
(in French)
. Retrieved
3 May
2020
.
External links
[
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]
|
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By year
| |
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Awards
| |
---|
Jutra Awards 1999-2015; Quebec Cinema Awards 2016; Prix Iris 2017-present.
|