In a year when a number of producers in both English Canada and Quebec notched impressive accomplishments on the big and small screens, Playback has named Christal Films president Christian Larouche its 2007 Producer of the Year.

Larouche, along with Pierre Gendron, produced the Quebec comedy Les trois p’tits cochons, the highest-grossing Canadian movie on domestic screens so far in 2007, having brought in $4.5 million in ticket sales as of Nov. 8. The film, which marks the directorial debut of superstar Quebec actor Patrick Huard, stars Claude Legault, Guillaume Lemay-Thivierge and Paul Doucet in a story about adulterous brothers.

In the spring, Larouche and Gendron wrapped Cadavres, a darkly comic starring vehicle for Huard directed by Erik Canuel, helmer of blockbuster Bon Cop, Bad Cop. The film is expected to generate major box office next year.

Also this year, Larouche and Christal notched a surprise success with the teen comedy A vos marques… Party!, which surpassed $2 million at the Quebec till. The film — described as a John Hughes movie for la belle province — stars Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin and was directed by feature newcomer Frédéric D’Amours. Larouche produced with his wife Caroline Héroux, who cowrote with Martine Pagé.

Larouche and Christal were also involved in a couple of notable international copros in 2007. Mr. Nobody, made with French, German and Belgian partners, is a sci-fi flick about a future world in which humans have achieved immortality, starring Jared Leto and Sarah Polley, and directed by Jaco Van Dormael at a cost of 33 million Euros.

Meanwhile, the Canada/France copro Afterwards, starring John Malkovich and Evangeline Lilly of TV’s Lost, is a supernatural thriller directed and cowritten by France’s Gilles Bourdos. Budgeted around $15 million, the film shot in Montreal in the spring and summer.

Christal has played a significant role in the new wave of Quebec cinema, especially with its phenomenal Les Boys films. The distributor is now eyeing English Canada, having opened a Toronto office last year, and, after the end of a distribution partnership with Lionsgate Films and Maple Pictures, will handle its own theatrical, TV and home video releases nationwide.

Playback‘s Producer of the Year is selected by the Playback editorial board. The complete feature story will appear in the Nov. 26 issue.