Montreal: From the penthouse atop Place Ville Marie, the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, Quebec section, unveiled the names of more than 500 finalists for the 10th Gala des Prix Gemeaux.

This year, the record number of nominees for the Prix Gemeaux, the acct’s annual awards for excellence in French-language tv, represents a 25% increase over 1994 in the 62 program craft and talent categories.

Some 140 programs got at least one nomination, along with 48 production companies and/or broadcasters. Of the nominations, 62% went to indie producers.

Leading all Gemeaux ’95 nominees is Les Grands proces, a Sovimage/Sagittaire-produced courtroom drama, which took 17 nominations.

The Neofilms miniseries Misericorde received 12 nominations, while Scoop IV, Productions SDA’s newsroom drama, nabbed 10.

Rounding out multiple program nominees are Avanti Cine Video’s La Petite Vie, Societe Radio-Canada’s Montreal P.Q., Verseau International’s Zap II, Telefiction’s Mourir d’Amour, Radio-Canada’s Sous un ciel variable, Radio-Canada’s Bete pas bete, Productions Sogestalt’s La Princesse astronaute, Productions SDA’s Taquinons 1994 avec les Bleu Poudre and Radio-Quebec’s L’Amour avec un grand A.

Finalists in the best drama series category are Le Sorcier, produced by Communications Claude Heroux International, Neofilms’ Misericorde and Productions SDA’s Scoop IV.

In the best teleroman category, the finalists are Productions Cleo-Clip’s Chambres en Ville, and A nous deux, Les Heritiers Duval, Montreal P.Q. and Sous un ciel variable, all produced by Radio-Canada.

Finalists for best direction of a drama series are Jean-Claude Labreque for Le Sorcier, Jean Beaudin for Misericorde and Alain Chartrand and Pierre Houle for Scoop IV.

Nominees for best performance by a male in a leading role in a dramatic program or series are Remy Girard and Normand Chouinard both for L’Amour avec un grand A, Jean Besre for Jamais deux sans toi, and Daniel Gadouas and Gildor Roy both for Les Grands Proces.

Best actress nominations for a leading role in a dramatic program or series went to Andree Lachapelle for Celimene et le Cardinal, Monique Spaziani for L’Amour avec un grand A, and Marina Orsini, Nathalie Mallette and Monique Miller, all for Misericorde.

This year’s Grand Prix de l’Academie winners, a career achievement award sponsored by Ford du Canada, are Denise Filiatrault and Dominique Michel.

ACCT-Quebec members have until Sept. 15 to exercise their vote.

The Prix Gemeaux will be broadcast live in two parts on rdi and Radio-Canada on Oct. 1.