The Whistler Film Festival (WFF) has announced its award winners for its 22nd edition.
Taking home the biggest prize, the Borsos Award for Best Canadian Feature, is Coyote, directed by Katherine Jerkovic. That honour comes with a $15,000 cash prize and $20,000 in post-production prizes.
According to the jury, it's "a masterfully rendered film, both tragic and hopeful, about unconditional love and sacrifice. A film that holds you in poetic stillness and takes you on a genuine familial journey that resonates with you long after the film is over."
In total, there were 16 awards in seven film competitions, as well as the Power Pitch Competition and MPPIA Short Film Award. There will also be an Audience Award winner announced on Dec. 28. The EDA Awards for Best Female-Directed Narrative Feature and Best Female-Directed Short Film will be announced on Dec. 13.
“A very special thanks to this year’s dedicated jury members. Because the number of submissions to the festival this year broke all previous records, the quality of our selections was arguably also at an all-time high. That likely made for some very difficult decisions, so I commend the juries for their judicious evaluations and final decisions," says Paul Gratton, WFF’s director of programming, in a release. “Special congratulations to all our winners, but also to all the filmmakers who entrusted us with their high-quality films this year. Whistler honours your talent.”
The other winners include:
- Best Director of a Borsos Competition Film sponsored by Directors Guild of Canada, BC - Joëlle Desjardins Paquette for Rodeo
- Best Screenplay of a Borsos Competition Film - Guillaume Lambert for Niagara
- Best Performance in a Borsos Competition Film - Jorge Martinez Colorado in Coyote with an honourable mention to Viva Lee in Polaris and Lilou Roy-Lanouette in Rodeo
- Best Cinematography in a Borsos Competition Film Presented by ICG 669 - David Schuurman for Polaris with an honourable mention to Stirling Bancroft for Exile
- Best Editing in a Borsos Competition Film Presented by IATSE 891 goes to Arthur Tarnowski for The 12 Tasks of Imelda
- World Documentary Award - River directed by Jennifer Peedom with an honourable mention to Out in the Ring directed by Ry Levey
- Best Mountain Culture Short Film - The Trapline by Andrea Wing with an honourable mention to Snowblind directed by Anthony Bonello and Mike Douglas
- Best Mountain Culture Feature Film - Know Before You Go: To The Hills and Back, directed by Mike Quigley
- Best BC Director Award - Carl Bessai for Féline@6.15 with an honourable mention to Jules Koostachin for Broken Angel
- Canadian ShortWork Award - Tongue directed by Kaho Yoshida
- International ShortWork Award - Warsha directed by Dania Bdeir with an honourable mention to Ice Merchants directed by João Gonzalez
- BC Student ShortWork Award - Omukama directed by Zane Klassen
- Power Pitch Competition - Jonathan Chuby won the WFF Power Pitch Competition with his project Duck Race
- MPPIA Short Film Pitch - Nessa Aref for My Roommate Ahriman with an honourable mention to Rosie Choo Pidcock for Sorry for Your Cost
All of the award-winning films, as well as other WFF selections, will be available to screen across Canada until Jan. 2 at watch.whistlerfilmfestival.com.
