Montreal: Andre Turpin’s Un Crabe dans la tete (produced by Qu4tre Par Qu4tre and distributed by Film Tonic) leads all films in this year’s 4th edition of the Prix Jutra with 10 nominations, including best picture, best direction and best screenplay.

Best picture finalists are Pierre Falardeau’s conquest drama 15 Fevrier 1839 (ACPAV, Christal Films) with nine Jutra nominations, Denis Chouinard’s topical immigrant drama L’Ange de Goudron (Max Films, Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm) with eight nominations, and Bernard Emond’s intimate La Femme qui boit (ACPAV, Christal) with five.

La Soiree des Jutra gala will be broadcast live from Theatre Saint-Denis on Reseau TVA Feb. 17. The Quebec film awards showcase is sponsored by Desjardins and Le Lait.

Twenty-eight features were submitted to the 5,617-member Jutra college, made up of the members of the Quebec industry craft and professional associations. Twenty-four were eligible in all categories, and 15 received nominations.

Jutra nominees for best direction and best screenplay are Falardeau, Chouinard, Catherine Martin for her feature debut Mariages (Coop Video de Montreal/Productions 23, Film Tonic) and Turpin.

Somewhat of a surprise, Renny Bartlett’s historical portrait Eisenstein (Amerique Film, Film Tonic) has been totally shut out at this year’s Jutra competition after picking up best film, best direction and best screenplay nominations at the Genies. Un Crabe is also a leading contender at the Genies with a best picture nomination, while Falardeau simply declined to enter 15 Fevrier in the Canadian competition.

Poirier tribute

Filmmaker Anne Claire Poirier (Mourir a tue-tete, Tu as crie, Let Me Go) is the popular choice for this year’s Jutra career tribute. In drama and documentaries, Poirier’s films have examined the role of women in society. She worked at the National Film Board as both a director (15 films) and studio producer (17 films) for 35 years. The Jutra tribute comes with a $5,000 grant from the APFTQ.

ACPAV topped all production houses this year with 14 Jutra nominations. Christal takes distrib honors with 16. The Billet d’Or prize for top-grossing film in Quebec in 2001 goes to Les Boys III (Melenny Productions, Christal), which pulled in close to $3.5 million in calendar 2001 and is currently over $5 million after 10 weeks in theatres.

20th Rendez-vous

This year’s 20th edition of the Rendez-vous du cinema quebecois, the annual film and video production retrospective, runs Feb. 15-24 in Montreal and opens with Denis Chouinard’s doc tribute Voir Giles Groulx, an examination of the life and work of the Quebec film pioneer, produced by the National Film Board. The dedicated Radio-Canada short film platform SilenceOnCourt.TV will webcast many of the productions on the Rendez-vous program, including two short films by Groulx.

-www.rvcq.com

-www.SilenceOnCourt.TV