Prix Iris for Best Director

Québec Cinéma presents an annual award for Best Director (Prix Iris de la meilleure réalisation) to recognize the best in the Cinema of Quebec.

Until 2016, it was known as the Jutra Award for Best Director in memory of influential Quebec film director Claude Jutra. Following the withdrawal of Jutra's name from the award, the 2016 award was presented under the name Québec Cinéma. The Prix Iris name was announced in October 2016.

Xavier Dolan received the most nominations, with six, while Denis Villeneuve received the most awards, with three. Villeneuve is the only director to win two consecutive awards, for Polytechnique in 2010 and Incendies 2011, while Dolan is the only director to receive two nominations in the same year, for Mommy and Tom at the Farm (Tom à la ferme) in 2015.

To date, eighteen women were nominated for the award a total of twenty-two times, with Léa Pool, Anne Émond, Sophie Dupuis and Monia Chokri receiving two nominations each. The first to receive a nomination was Manon Briand at the first ceremony for 2 Seconds (2 secondes). Five women have won the award so far, the first being Lyne Charlebois in 2009 for Borderline, followed by Louise Archambault in 2014 for Gabrielle, Léa Pool in 2016 for The Passion of Augustine (La passion d'Augustine), Sophie Deraspe in 2020 for Antigone and Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette in 2021 for Goddess of the Fireflies (La déesse des moucbes à feu). Of these films, only the latter three also won the award for Best Film.