Despite the big box office and critical success, the documentary the flower It will not win any Iris Awards this year, having been excluded from the Iris Audience Award category for which only fictional films qualify.

” the film the flower It is a documentary and not a feature film, which explains why it is not on the Audience Award finalists list, according to our regulations, ”confirmed Wednesday Lynn Duterbel, director of communications for Quebec Cinema, who will present the IRIS Awards in June.

The news caused major disappointment earlier this week, among other things, with Felix Rose and his team, who wished to see their film acted in at least one category. the flower It tells the story of Paul Rose, a member of the Liberation Front of Quebec (FLQ) at the heart of the October 1970 crisis, through the eyes of his son Felix.

“Sure, honestly, we were surprised and disappointed, as Felix Rose trusts in an interview. It’s rare for a documentary to be in a public place for three months. People have challenged COVID-19 to get there. It’s a box office success, but it’s also a movie. It’s critically acclaimed. It is ranked among the five best films of the year by the Quebec Film Critics Association. “

The director also admits to its disappointment that the film was not selected in any other category of Iris Awards, not even in the category of Best Editing.

reflection

This year, Québec Cinéma announced that it is easing its criteria for selecting finalists for the Audience Award, by including all 16 films released in theaters. Usually, only the five most popular films are included in the selection. However, it was determined that the regulation indicated that documentaries were automatically excluded from this selection.

This is the first time that one or more documentaries in Quebec have been competing with fiction at the box office, says Segolene Roederer, General Manager of Quebec Cinema, adding that it also does not rule out acceptance of the regulations in the category of Iris Audience Award that will be reviewed in the future. She said, “It’s an example of that.”

next to the flower, documentaries Music box, And the My name is Human It has also been particularly popular with Quebecers over the past year.

To the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), which produced the movie the flower, It was judged that the general Iris award category could be more inclusive. We respect the rules and independence of Quebec cinema. Nevertheless, we will certainly continue our conversation with the organization over the next few weeks to explore the possibility of expanding this category to include all feature films. “

However, NFB wanted to congratulate the finalists in the various categories, namely Wintopia, De mira birt wintonic, Forbidden story Ariel Nasr W. I am Barnabas By Jean-Francois Levesque. “We are also proud of this documentary Roses, By Félix Rose, it ranked 5th among Quebec movies after collecting the best receipts in 2020, according to Cinéac Group, “We’re still reading.

“scandal”

The artists publicly denounced the film’s absence. the flower Selection of finalists. “I can’t understand that Roses, By Félix Rose, not featured in the nominations for Best Documentary Category, singer Emile Belludu commented on Instragram. I know politics upsets you about the prospect of having a party, but it’s really outrageous. I cannot believe that the unique and influential perspective of an important and central event in the modern history of Quebec is not supported by the Quebec cinema. “

On Facebook, director Jules Falardeau was also surprised by this absence the flower It achieved “tremendous popular success” in the midst of this pandemic, “to the point of becoming the biggest theatrical success of all films on the French NFB program.”

I don’t know who voted or who made the final decision, but can we talk about forgetting? Or did he receive the kind of treatment of Leon Trotsky? Anyway, is that weird? Yes, yes, that’s fine, there is no policy anywhere … only technical options, we know, ”he added.

The composition of the jury that you select for the IRIS Awards is only disclosed when the awards are awarded in June.

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