Montreal: Radio-Canada’s ground-breaking nightclub drama Minuit le soir was the big winner at the Prix Gémeaux on Dec. 9, taking seven of its 10 nominations at the 21st annual French-language TV awards, including prizes for best drama and direction.

Creators and longtime collaborators Claude Legault and Pierre-Yves Bernard also scored for cowriting the gritty half-hour series about three working-class bouncers in a downtown Montreal bar.

‘Minuit le soir is a series about friendship, and Pierre-Yves and I have been writing together for 18 years, so this is very meaningful,’ said Legault backstage. He also picked up the best actor prize for his starring role in Minuit and another nod for his supporting turn in the téléroman Annie et ses hommes.

The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television in Quebec also gave Legault, Bernard and Minuit’s director, Daniel ‘Podz’ Grou the Prix Jean-Besré special achievement award, which is awarded annually to a broadcaster, creator or performer who demonstrates ‘exceptional originality.’

‘I think our peers appreciate that we’ve done one hell of a job with this series on a pretty low budget,’ said producer Vincent Leduc of Zone 3. Minuit begins its third and final season in January.

Minuit was followed closely at the podium by the TVA téléroman Annie et ses hommes by Sphère Média Plus, which took home five Gémeaux, including best téléroman, best actor for Denis Bouchard, best director for Richard Lahaie, and best writing for Bernard Dansereau and Annie Piérard.

‘Téléromans are the basis of TV fiction in Quebec; it’s what drives the industry,’ said producer Jocelyn Deschênes.

Backstage, Deschênes said his recent experience in English Canada highlighted how important popular low-budget téléromans are to the Quebec TV business. ‘There’s just no equivalent in English Canada, and so it’s a challenge for the industry to build audiences,’ he said.

Deschênes produced an English version of Sphère’s hit series Rumeurs with Moses Znaimer. Broadcast on CBC this fall, Rumours only attracted around 200,000 viewers at its peak, while the original has been a hit with Quebec viewers for more than five years and this year picked up Gémeaux prizes for best comedy and best comedy writing.

SRC’s cancelled comedy about four drag queens, Cover Girl, had topped the nominations list with 12 nods but garnered only four Gémeaux, including one each for Gilles Renaud and Anne-Marie Cadieux in the supporting actor categories. Isabelle Langlois also won for best comedy writing.

Veteran TV personality Normand Brathwaite – who hosted the Gémeaux from 1990 to 2002 – received a special lifetime achievement award for his ‘exceptional contribution to Quebec French-language television.’

Brathwaite was clearly moved by the tribute, which included performances from the dozens of entertainers he’s worked with on the two primetime shows he currently hosts: Télé-Quebec’s music show Belle et Bum and SRC’s popular dance program Match des étoiles.

Like many who attended the Gémeaux, talk show host Guy A. Lepage lamented that the gala aired on a Saturday night on Art TV, a specialty channel with a modest 1.5% market share.

‘This is a good gala. But it should be shown on a mainstream broadcaster during primetime,’ said Lepage, shortly after accepting the best talk show prize for Tout le monde en parle.

The Dec. 9 gala, hosted by actor Serge Postigo, drew about 1,200 industry luminaries to the Montreal Convention Center, and about 300,000 viewers to their TV sets, according to BBM.

Like last year, Quebec’s private networks TVA and TQS declined to participate in the ceremony, citing dissatisfaction with the way in which the Academy arrives at nominations and winners. Fabienne Larouche, producer of the hit SRC series Les Bougon – c’est aussi ça la vie!, didn’t apply last year or this time, complaining that the awards are out of sync with popular Quebec tastes.

Although independent producers whose programs are broadcast on TVA and TQS can still apply, the most important one, Julie Snyder, didn’t. Snyder declined to submit her wildly popular musical reality show Star Académie, seen on TVA. The absence of Les Bougon and Star Académie left the floor open for Tout le monde en parle to win the evening’s only people’s choice award.

www.academy.ca