(September 29, 2016 – Toronto, ON) We nearly missed the 31st annual Prix Gémeaux earlier this month. You are to be forgiven if you missed them completely. The gala broadcast, live from Montreal’s Théâtre St-Denis on CBC’s Québec arm, Radio-Canada, was scheduled up against the Emmy Awards and neither the CBC’s English division nor the organization behind the awards did much, if anything to promote the stellar event outside of the province.
When the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television decided to amalgamate the Genie Awards (for film) and Gemini Awards (for TV) into the Canadian Screen Awards, it was also decided to keep the original TV awards for Québec and so the Prix Gémeaux have continued in an unbroken string for 31 years. Thanks to a PVR, we were able to watch the show again this year and the glitz and glamour of Québec’s star system was evident from the very opening to the very end and especially when Sophie Grégoire Trudeau joined hosts Éric Salvail and Jean-Philippe Wauthier on stage to introduce the first category winner. Greeted by a huge outburst of applause, she was at ease and at home and was able to easily get around a few tricky moments. When asked where the Prime Minister was, she joked that he as home babysitting the kids. And so the show got underway when she announced the winner for Best Performance By An Actress In A Leading Role: Seasonal Dramatic Series as Laurence Leboeuf for her work in Marche à L’Ombre from Avenue Productions.
Following is the complete list of winners from the 31st annual Prix Gémeaux held on September 18, 2016:
BEST SEASONAL DRAMATIC SERIES
LES PAYS D’EN HAUT – Sophie Deschênes, François Rozon (Encore Télévision / Les Productions Sovimage)
BEST ANNUAL DRAMATIC SERIES
UNITÉ 9 – Fabienne Larouche, Michel Trudeau (Aetios Productions)
BEST COMEDY
LES BEAUX MALAISES – SEASON 3 – Vincent Gagné, Martin Matte, François Rozon (Encore Télévision / Matte TV)
BEST VARIETY OR PERFORMANCE ARTS SERIES
LA VOIX – Benoît Clermont, Stéphane Laporte, Chantal Lépine, Esther Teman (Productions Déferlantes)
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE: SEASONAL DRAMATIC SERIES
Vincent Leclerc – LES PAYS D’EN HAUT (Encore Télévision / Les Productions Sovimage)
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE: ANNUAL DRAMATIC SERIES
Guy Nadon – O’ (Les Productions Sovimage)
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE: ANNUAL DRAMATIC SERIES
Guylaine Tremblay – UNITÉ 9 (Aetios Productions)
BEST PERFORMANCE: SKETCH COMEDY
Hélène Bourgeois Leclerc, Pierre Brassard, Véronique Claveau, Patrice L’Écuyer, Louis Morissette, Laurent Paquin – BYE BYE 2015 (Productions KOTV)
BEST HOST: SKETCH COMEDY, SERIES OR VARIETY SPECIAL
Louis-José Houde – GALA ADISQ 2015 (ICI Radio-Canada Télé)
BEST HOST: GAME SHOW, REALITY TV
Stéphane Bellavance, Martin Carli – GÉNIAL! VI (DATSIT studios)
BEST HOST: INTERVIEW SERIES OR PROGRAM OR TALK SHOW
Guy A. Lepage – TOUT LE MONDE EN PARLE (Avanti Ciné Vidéo / ICI Radio-Canada Télé / Le gars de la TV / Jacques K. Primeau Télé)
BEST HOST: YOUTH
Gregory Charles – VIRTUOSE (Média Qube Télé)
Short takes: The sketch comedy show Bye bye took 6 awards followed by the Dramatic series Les pays d’en haut with 5 awards.
Northernstars.ca thanks the Québec office of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television for providing this information.
