MONTREAL — Amid debate over whether Quebec cinema is becoming too commercial, Philippe Falardeau’s auteur film Congorama swept the most prestigious categories of the Prix Jutra on Sunday night, picking up five of its six nominations including best film, direction, screenplay and a shared win for best actor.

Paul Ahmarani and Olivier Gourmet were jointly recognized for their starring roles in the critically acclaimed Canada/Belgium/France coproduction, which follows a Belgian man’s quest to find his biological family in Quebec.

Although it led the pack with 12 nominations, box-office smash Bon Cop, Bad Cop picked up only one award — best editing for Jean-François Bergeron — at the ninth annual awards soiree, held at Montreal’s Places des Arts concert hall before an audience of more than 1,000.

Un dimanche à Kigali won six Jutras in mainly technical categories, including cinematography for Pierre Mignot, artistic direction for André-Line Beauparlant and sound for the team of Claude La Haye, Hans Peter Strobl and Marie-Claude Gagné.

Falardeau said this year’s Jutras demonstrate that Quebec cinema is becoming more outward looking. ‘I’m happy to see that we are telling stories about foreign places. Rwanda with Kigali, Japan with Kamataki, and Ontario with Bon Cop, Bad Cop,’ he quipped on stage upon accepting best screenplay.

Falardeau, who last week picked up a Genie for best screenplay, also acknowledged how important popular films such as Bon Cop are to the Quebec industry. ‘I don’t want to polarize Quebec cinema into two camps — auteur films and more commercial ones — [but] it’s the more popular films that bring people into theaters.’

With a provincial election likely to be called this week, politics were in the air at the glitzy event, hosted by Quebec personality Normand Brathwaite. While accepting his lifetime achievement award, actor and newly minted Parti Québécois candidate Pierre Curzi (Les Invasions barbares, Le Déclin de l’empire américain) pushed for Quebec sovereignty.

‘Quebec cinema is critical to our identity. And the image it reflects back to Quebecers should be one of a proud, sovereign and free Quebec,’ he told the crowd.

Quebec Culture Minister Line Beauchamp — a presenter at the ceremony — was lauded for increasing SODEC’s budget for feature films by $10 million annually, though her federal counterpart, Heritage Minister Bev Oda, remained under fire for failing to respond to pleas for more money from the Quebec film community.

‘It’s because of Madame Beauchamp that we can have such a wonderful celebration tonight,’ said C.R.A.Z.Y. producer Pierre Even, upon getting the nod for the most successful film outside Quebec. ‘And I’d like to also thank Bev Oda,’ he added doubtfully. ‘I hope we are going to be able to do this again next year.’

Beauchamp later told reporters that Quebec wants Telefilm Canada’s funding divided up so it reflects the box-office success of Quebec cinema. ‘Right now we get around one-third of the money, and English Canada gets the rest. We want it changed so that that one-third goes to Quebec cinema, one-third goes to English Canada and one-third of funding is based on previous success at the box office,’ she said.

Bon Cop, now the highest grossing film in Canadian history, received a nod for highest box office receipts. Céline Bonnier received the best actress award for her role in Délivrez-moi and Gabriel Arcand took the supporting actor prize for his role in Congorama.

Serge Giguère’s A force de rêves — about the lives of active seniors — won best documentary, while McLaren’s Negatives by Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre took best animated film and Les Eaux mortes by Guy Édoin received the best short film prize.