Empathie and Avant le crash lead Genie Awards nominations

The Quebec television series Empathie has emerged as the frontrunner for the 41st Genie Awards with 19 nominations, followed closely by the drama Avant le crash, which received 18.

Empathie, created by Florence Longpré, has been accumulating awards across international festivals since its release last year. At this week's Banff International Film Festival, it won four additional awards. Avant le crash, the third and final season of the series written by Kim Lévesque-Lizotte and Éric Bruneau, matches it in most nomination categories.

The psychological thriller Dérive also distinguished itself with 14 nominations. The youth series La nuit devant nous and the year-end comedy revue Bye Bye 2025 each received 10 nominations.

In total, 192 productions and 853 individuals have been nominated across at least one category. The Académie canadienne du cinéma et de la télévision noted that the finalists "testify to the richness and dynamism of Francophone audiovisual production here" and highlighted a notable number of new productions and Indigenous content, including Anticosti, Dérive, Dernière seconde, Casse-gueule, and Rebelles.

Forty-two productions achieved what the Academy calls "a hat trick"—nominations in three of the key categories spanning production, direction, writing, or animation.

The 41st Genie Awards ceremony will be broadcast September 13 on ICI Télé, hosted for the first time by actor Jason Roy-Léveillé.