The 18th Quebec Cinema Awards ceremony (French: Gala du cinéma québécois 2016[1]) were held on March 20, 2016 to honour films made with the participation of the Quebec film industry in 2015.[2][3]
The ceremony was the first to be held since Québec Cinéma dropped the "Jutra Awards" name from its awards program, following the publication in February 2016 of allegations that namesake director Claude Jutra had been a pedophile.[4] The organization established a committee to determine a new permanent name for the awards, which announced the new Prix Iris name in October 2016.
Winners at the 2016 ceremony received a new wooden statue, replacing the previous trophy created by Charles Daudelin. The new trophy was created by Montreal's Nouveau Studio; it is made of solid maple, painted white, with gold and acrylic leaves. With only three weeks to design and produce the new statue following the renaming of the award, it would not have been possible to cast the trophies out of bronze.[5]
The Passion of Augustine (La passion d'Augustine) won six awards from eleven nominations, including Best Film, the first film directed by a woman to win the award, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress for Diane Lavallée.[6] Céline Bonnier received her tenth acting nomination and won her second Best Actress award, having previously won for Deliver Me (Délivrez-moi).
Corbo, Elephant Song and Our Loved Ones (Les êtres chers) were nominated for ten, nine and seven awards respectively, but lost all of their nominations. Additionally, Elephant Song tied the record for the film with the most nominations without being nominated for Best Film, joining Babine and The Master Key (Grande Ourse: la clé des possibles).
With only two nominations, Philippe Lesage's The Demons (Les démons) became the Best Film nominee with the least nominations. For his rôle in Paul à Québec, Gilbert Sicotte won his second Best Actor award.
My Internship in Canada (Guibord s'en va-t-en guerre) won three awards from four nominations, including Best Supporting Actor for Irdens Exantus. Felix and Meira (Félix et Meira) won two awards from six nominations, including Best Screenplay, while Brooklyn won the two awards it was nominated for. Snowtime! (La guerre des tuques 3D) won one competitive award and the Billet d'or, becoming the first animated feature film to win an award.