On Dec. 4, the 2025 Gala des artisans Québec Cinéma announced its winners at Grandé Studios in Montréal. Fourteen SOCAN screen composers were among the finalists in the Best Original Music and Best Original Music – Documentary categories.
In the Best Original Music field, Philippe Brault won the Iris for scoring the film Bergers, directed by Sophie Deraspe. Already named Best Canadian Film at TIFF in 2024, Bergers is inspired by the true story of Matyhas Lefebure, as told in his novel D’où viens-tu, berger?, in which a young Montréal advertising executive leaves everything behind to become a shepherd in Provence.
In a brief interview with Paroles & Musique, Brault highlighted how unique this project was: “Bergers was a special project for me, because of the scale Sophie Deraspe envisioned for the music. I’ve rarely received a cut that leaves so much room for the score. I saw it as a daunting challenge, but also as a tremendous vote of confidence. I’m very happy this work was recognized.”
In the Best Original Music – Documentary category, the duo Demain Déluge – aka Benoit Pinette (Tire le coyote) and Marc-André Landry – won for their work on Simon & Marianne, a film by Pier-Luc Latulippe and Martin Fournier. The documentary follows the final months of author Simon Roy, and his partner, writer Marianne Marquis-Gravel, as they face illness together.
The duo emphasized the remarkable creative freedom they were given by the directors: “Scoring Simon & Marianne was a dream project for any screen composer, in the sense that Martin Fournier and Pier-Luc Latulippe gave us immense freedom. Essentially, they told us, ‘Watch the film, compose, and maybe the music will influence our editing.’ So we got to work and composed as many pieces as we could – no timecode or any other type of constraint, no predefined direction – then they selected what fit. It became a sort of dialogue between our musical vision and their directing talent, a meeting of sensibilities. The credit goes to them. It’s a beautiful film, deeply human. And we’re grateful for their trust.”
For the complete list of finalists and winners of the 2025 edition of the Gala Québec Cinéma, visit their official website. Congratulations to the winners and all the finalists in both categories!