Young Quebec director captures 3 trophies at Cannes Directors' Fortnight

Young Quebec filmmaker Xavier Dolan has scored a hat trick at the Cannes Directors' Fortnight, a sidebar of the Cannes Film Festival, for his French-language film J'ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother).

The film took the Art Cinema prize, the Regards Jeunes award and the SACD prize for best French-language film late Friday.

Dolan, 20,  wrote, directed and acted in the film, a coming-of-age drama about the complicated relationship between a young man discovering his homosexuality and his mother.

The first screening of the film at Cannes last Sunday got an enthusiastic response.

"People loved it and we had a standing ovation for about eight minutes.…I feel like three years of effort and editing and time and money and everything is now worth it," Dolan told CBC Radio in an interview this week.

Dolan is based in Montreal and the son of Quebec actor Manuel Tadros.

J'ai tué ma mère is also in the running for the Camera d'or award for first-time filmmakers.

The film is set to unspool in Quebec on June 5, in Montreal and Quebec City.