Prix Iris

The Prix Iris, formerly known as the Prix Jutra (Jutra Awards), honour distinguished achievement in the Québec film industry. Founded in 1999 as the Prix Jutra, after Québécois filmmaker Claude Jutra, the annual awards ceremony was temporarily renamed the Gala du cinéma québécois in February 2016 following posthumous allegations that Jutra was a pedophile. In October 2016, Québec Cinéma, the organizing body of the awards, announced that a vote open to the public and industry members had determined that Prix Iris would be the new permanent name.

Background

First introduced in 1999, the awards were created by several Québec film producers, most prominently Roger Frappier, to protest that the Genie Awards were too English Canadian in their focus. They replaced Les Prix Guy L'Écuyer, created in 1987 by the festival Les Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois in memory of actor Guy L'Écuyer.

The original trophy statue was designed by pioneering Québécois sculptor Charles Daudelin. A new Prix Iris trophy will be unveiled before the ceremony on 4 June 2017.

Administration

The awards are administered by Québec Cinéma, which also oversees the Montréal film festival Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois and the travelling screening series La Tournée du cinéma québécois. Nominations are selected by specially-appointed juries comprising prominent industry members, and individual awards are voted on by members of the trade unions and professional associations that make up the Québec film industry. The ceremonies, which typically take place in February or March, have been broadcast since their inception, and since 2004 by Radio-Canada.

Structure

The awards comprise 18 competitive categories in total — from acting, directing and writing to craft and technical categories — as well as four special prizes: the Billet d’or (Golden Ticket), the equivalent of the Golden Reel Award, goes to the film with the year's highest box-office gross in Québec; Film s'étant le plus illustré à l'extérieur du Québec is awarded to the movie that achieved the greatest international success at festivals and/or during its commercial release; Meilleur exploitant goes to the exhibitor who did the most to promote Québec movies; and the Prix Hommage is presented for lifetime achievement in the Québec film industry.