For the 13th consecutive year, L’Academie canadienne du cinema et de la television announced its Prix Gemeaux nominations with a list of 504 finalists that reflects the tv production landcape in Quebec: 68% of the nominees come from independent producers. sda picked up 34 nominations, followed by Pixcom with 13, Coscient at 12, Sovimage with 11 and Avanti Cine Video, 10.

The other 32% of the nominations come from the broadcasters, mainly Radio-Canada, since tva, which finished first in the ratings last year, is still ignoring the gala and refuses to submit its in-house productions.

All in all, the Academy received 1,209 submissions, 27 more than last year.

Omerta leads the pack

Not surprisingly, Omerta II: La loi du silence (sda), considered by many to be one of the best television series ever produced in Quebec, received the most nominations, 15.

On Sept. 27, Omerta could walk off with a Gemeaux for, among other categories, best dramatic series (Francine Forest, Andre Picard, producers), best direction (Pierre Houle), best writing (Luc Dionne) and best original score (Michel Cusson). Cusson’s music for the series has been produced as a cd and as a sold-out live performance.

Most of the actors from Omerta are also nominated – Michel Cote, Sophie Lorain (best performance in a leading role), Michel Dumont, David La Haye and Brigitte Paquette (best performance in a supporting role) are among the favorites.

In the best dramatic series category, Omerta will compete with Diva (Les Productions Sovimage), a very popular series with close to two million viewers every week. Diva depicts the darker side of the fashion world and was written by the author of Jasmine and Lobby, Michelle Allen).

L’Ombre de l’Epervier (Verseau International) received the second highest number of nominations for any show, 14. It’s from Quebec novelist Noel Audet and was adapted by veteran screenwriter Guy Fournier and shot on location in Gaspesie. Une Voix en Or (Max Films Television) is a miniseries coproduction with France and guest-stars popular Quebec singer Ginette Reno. The production received mixed reviews and attracted less viewers than expected.

As for Paparazzi, Rejean Tremblay and Fabienne Larouche’s (Scoop, Urgence) last joint effort, it revealed the less glamorous side of press photography and also got mixed reviews. In fact, it’s essentially absent from the competition, except for a best editing nomination.

Best teleroman

The other popular category is best teleroman, in which there is no real competition since the most popular of them all, Le Retour (tva), is not on the list of finalists.

The teleroman nominees, all from Radio-Canada, include 4 et demi, a sitcom about the personal and professional life of a group of thirtysomethings; Bouscotte, another deep and complicated saga by Victor-Levy Beaulieu, author of L’Heritage and Race de monde; and Le Volcan tranquille, Refus Global signatory Pierre Gauvreau’s outlook on the social and political climate of Quebec during the ’40s and ’50s. The series had such low ratings that src decided to broadcast its second season during the summer.

The remaining src teleroman nominees are Fabienne Larouche’s first solo effort, Virginie, a daily soap watched by almost one million viewers four nights a week, and Sous le signe du lion, an exceptional text by playwright Francoise Loranger adapted by author Helene Pedneault. Loranger (who died in 1995) and Pedneault (who’s working on a sequel) are both nominated for best writing in a teleroman.

Variety

Let’s talk about love avec Celine Dion (Productions J, Productions Feeling), the most-watched tv program in Quebec last year, will probably win the variety special category, which also includes Guy Cloutier… star d’un soir (PGC Television), Lara Fabian, Pure (Production Avanti Cine Video), Let’s talk from Las Vegas, Celine (MusiMax, Productions Feeling) and Lynda Lemay en toute intimite (Sogestalt 2001).

Comedy program

More exciting is the competition for best comedy program, where the race will be tight between La fin du monde est a 7 heures (Coscient), a very audacious and funny daily show that mixes humor and news, and Un gars une fille (Avanti Cine Video), a comedy sketch on man-woman relationships by ex-Rock et Belles Oreilles leading man Guy A. Lepage. The format rights to the show were sold to 11 countries last year.

Also nominated is Politiquement Colette (Pram Quebec), hosted by humorist Pierre Brassard who dresses up as a woman in a formula that resembles Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher but lacked its wit. Brassard’s show has since been canceled.

Cultural program

No big surprises in the best cultural program or series category. Bons baisers d’Amerique (Productions Pixcom), a show about the French-speaking population in America mainly intended for the French-speaking population in Europe; La Vie d’artiste (src), a visually stunning weekly magazine on the arts by a group of young journalists, some of them ex-MusiquePlus staffers; and Christiane Charette en direct (SRC/Les Productions Gignac Charette), one of the most original cultural talk shows on Quebec television, which won’t come back this year since Charette has decided to try something new. Charette should be back on the air in January with a weekly formula. Her timeslot will be occupied by Liza Frulla, ex-culture minister in the last Liberal government.

Surely, Second regard (src) and Plus ca change, plus c’est pareil (Balzac Images), a new daily show on current affairs, seem like strange bedfellows for this category.

Gemeaux gala

The Gemeaux Gala airs on Sunday, Sept. 27 on Radio-Canada and will be hosted, as always, by radio and tv star Normand Brathwaite.

The first part of the gala, in which the more technical prizes are awarded, will air during the afternoon, in a show broadcast on rdi and hosted by the new anchor of src’s Telejournal, Stephan Bureau.