The 2023 edition of the Calgary International Film Festival, the 24th edition in the event's history, took place from September 21 to October 1, 2023 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.[1]
The festival opened with Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life, a documentary film by Dan Covert about Calgary-born artist Geoff McFetridge, and closed with Cody Lightning's comedy film Hey, Viktor!.[2]
Awards
In 2023, the festival introduced a new CA$5,000 juried prize for Best Canadian Narrative Feature sponsored by Air Canada, as a complement to its existing RBC Emerging Artist Award for first-time Canadian filmmakers. New filmmakers remained eligible for the RBC Award, while Canadian films by more established directors were eligible for the Air Canada award.[3]
Juried award winners were announced on September 25,[4] with audience-voted award winners announced at the conclusion of the festival.[5]
| Award
|
Film
|
Filmmaker
|
| Audience Choice Alberta Feature |
Tales from the Rez |
Colin Ahnahktsipiitaa Van Loon, Trevor Solway
|
| Audience Choice Canadian Narrative Feature |
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant) |
Ariane Louis-Seize
|
| Audience Choice Canadian Documentary Feature |
Summer Qamp |
Jen Markowitz
|
| Audience Choice International Narrative Feature |
The Persian Version |
Maryam Keshavarz
|
| Audience Choice International Documentary Feature |
Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life |
Dan Covert
|
| Audience Choice Late Shift |
The Puppetman |
Brandon Christensen
|
| Audience Choice Generation Next |
Aitamaako'tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun |
Banchi Hanuse
|
| Audience Choice Music on Screen |
Immediate Family |
Denny Tedesco
|
| Audience Choice Special Presentations |
The Old Oak |
Ken Loach
|
| Audience Choice Alberta Short |
MONSTR |
Tank Standing Buffalo
|
| Audience Choice Narrative Short |
Dead Cat (Chat mort) |
Annie-Claude Caron, Danick Audet
|
| Audience Choice Animated Short |
Ninety-Five Senses |
Jerusha Hess, Jared Hess
|
| Audience Choice Documentary Short |
Jack and Sam |
Jordan Matthew Horowitz
|
| Air Canada Canadian Narrative Feature |
Suze |
Dane Clark, Linsey Stewart
|
| Air Canada Canadian Narrative Feature, Special Jury Citation |
Charlie Gillespie (performance)
|
| RBC Emerging Canadian Artist |
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant) |
Ariane Louis-Seize
|
| RBC Emerging Canadian Artist, Special Jury Citation |
Asog |
Seán Devlin
|
| Hey, Viktor! |
Cody Lightning
|
| DGC Canadian Documentary Feature |
Swan Song |
Chelsea McMullan
|
| DGC Canadian Documentary Feature, Special Jury Citation |
Summer Qamp |
Jen Markowitz
|
| International Narrative Feature |
Animalia (Parmi nous) |
Sofia Alaoui
|
| International Narrative Feature, Special Jury Citation |
Close to You |
Elliot Page (performance)
|
| 20,000 Species of Bees (20.000 especies de abejas) |
Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (direction)
|
| International Documentary Feature |
Between the Rains |
Moses Thuranira, Andrew H. Brown
|
| Short Film Grand Jury Prize |
Palm Sunday |
Wes Andre Goodrich
|
| Devon Bolton Memorial Award |
MONSTR |
Tank Standing Buffalo
|
| Youth by Youth Canada Short Film Award |
Operation Carl |
Sandra Hurd
|
| Live Action Short Film |
Death to the Bikini! (À mort le bikini!) |
Justine Gauthier
|
| Animated Short Film |
Boat People |
Thao Lam, Kjell Boersma
|
| Documentary Short Film |
The Last Repair Shop |
Ben Proudfoot, Kris Bowers
|
| Student Short Film |
Simone |
Aisha Amin
|
Official selections
Canadian Narrative Competition
Canadian Documentary Competition
International Narrative Competition
International Documentary Competition
| English title
|
Original title
|
Director(s)
|
Production country
|
| Between the Rains |
Moses Thuranira, Andrew H. Brown |
Kenya, United Kingdom
|
| Break the Game |
Jane M. Wagner |
United States
|
| Fantastic Machine |
Axel Danielson, Maximilien Van Aertryck |
Denmark, Sweden
|
| Four Daughters |
بنات ألفة |
Kaouther Ben Hania |
France, Tunisia, Germany, Saudi Arabia
|
| Going Varsity in Mariachi |
Alejandra Vasquez, Sam Osborn |
United States
|
| Great Photo, Lovely Life |
Amanda Mustard, Rachel Beth Anderson |
United States
|
| Jesszilla |
Emily Sheskin |
United States
|
| On the Adamant |
Sur l'Adamant |
Nicolas Philibert |
France, Japan
|
| Silver Dollar Road |
Raoul Peck |
United States
|
| Smoke Sauna Sisterhood |
Savvusanna sõsarad |
Anna Hints |
Estonia, France, Iceland
|
| Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer |
Thomas von Steinaecker |
Germany, United Kingdom
|
| You Can Call Me Bill |
Alexandre O. Philippe |
United States
|
Features not in competition
| English title
|
Original title
|
Director(s)
|
Production country
|
| About Dry Grasses |
Kuru Otlar Üstüne |
Nuri Bilge Ceylan |
Turkey, France, Germany, Sweden
|
| Anatomy of a Fall |
Anatomie d'une chute |
Justine Triet |
France
|
| The Animal Kingdom |
Le Règne animal |
Thomas Cailley |
France
|
| Big Boys |
Corey Sherman |
United States
|
| La Chimera |
Alice Rohrwacher |
Italy, France, Switzerland
|
| The Delinquents |
Los delincuentes |
Rodrigo Moreno |
Argentina, Brazil, Luxembourg, Chile
|
| A Difficult Year |
Une année difficile |
Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache |
France
|
| Drop |
Ramin Eshraghi-Yazdi |
Canada
|
| Dumb Money |
Craig Gillespie |
United States
|
| Evil Does Not Exist |
悪は存在しない |
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi |
Japan
|
| Fallen Leaves |
Kuolleet lehdet |
Aki Kaurismäki |
Finland, Germany
|
| Faultline |
Anna Cooley |
Canada
|
| Hailey Rose |
Sandi Somers |
Canada
|
| How to Have Sex |
Molly Manning Walker |
United Kingdom
|
| How We Ended Us |
Grant Harvey |
Canada
|
| If Only I Could Hibernate |
Баавгай болохсон, Baavgai Bolohson |
Zoljargal Purevdash |
Mongolia
|
| Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell |
Bên trong vỏ kén vàng |
Phạm Thiên Ân |
Vietnam, Singapore, France, Spain
|
| Isle of Hope |
Damian Romay |
United States
|
| Jericho Ridge |
Will Gilbey |
United Kingdom
|
| Kidnapped |
Rapito |
Marco Bellocchio |
Italy, France, Germany
|
| Little Brother |
Sheridan O'Donnell |
United States
|
| A Little Prayer |
Angus MacLachlan |
United States
|
| Mayhem |
Farang |
Xavier Gens |
France, Thailand
|
| Monster |
怪物 |
Hirokazu Kore-eda |
Japan
|
| The Old Oak |
Ken Loach |
United Kingdom, France, Belgium
|
| Peak Season |
Steven Kanter, Henry Loevner |
United States
|
| Perfect Days |
Wim Wenders |
Japan, Germany
|
| The Pot-au-Feu |
La Passion de Dodin Bouffant |
Tran Anh Hung |
France
|
| The Promised Land |
Bastarden |
Nikolaj Arcel |
Denmark, Germany, Sweden
|
| The Puppetman |
Brandon Christensen |
United States
|
| Robot Dreams |
Pablo Berger |
Spain, France
|
| Romi |
Robert Cuffley |
Canada
|
| The Royal Hotel |
Kitty Green |
Australia, United Kingdom
|
| The Sacrifice Game |
Jenn Wexler |
United States
|
| Seven Veils |
Atom Egoyan |
Canada
|
| Sleep |
잠 |
Jason Yu |
South Korea
|
| The Teachers' Lounge |
Das Lehrerzimmer |
Ilker Çatak |
Germany
|
| The Ties That Bind |
James Reckseidler |
Canada
|
| Tótem |
Lila Avilés |
Mexico, Denmark, France
|
| Vincent Must Die |
Vincent doit mourir |
Stéphan Castang |
France, Belgium
|
| When Evil Lurks |
Cuando acecha la maldad |
Demián Rugna |
Argentina
|
Documentaries not in competition
| English title
|
Original title
|
Director(s)
|
Production country
|
| Anselm |
Anselm – Das Rauschen der Zeit |
Wim Wenders |
Germany
|
| Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life |
Dan Covert |
United States
|
| Immediate Family |
Denny Tedesco |
United States
|
| Joan Baez: I Am a Noise |
Miri Navasky, Maeve O'Boyle, Karen O'Connor |
United States
|
| Kiss the Future |
Nenad Cicin-Sain |
Bosnia and Herzegovina, United States, Ireland
|
| The Lebanese Burger Mafia |
Omar Mouallem |
Canada
|
| Patria y Vida: The Power of Music |
Beatriz Luengo |
Spain
|
| They Shot the Piano Player |
Dispararon al pianista |
Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal |
Spain, France, Netherlands
|
| The Stones & Brian Jones |
Nick Broomfield |
United Kingdom
|
| Without Leaving Anyone Behind |
Sylvester Ndumbi |
Canada
|
Episodic
| English title
|
Original title
|
Director(s)
|
Production country
|
| Tales from the Rez |
Trevor Solway, Colin Ahnahktsipiitaa Van Loon |
Canada
|
| Telling Our Story |
Kim O'Bomsawin |
Canada
|
Shorts
| English title
|
Original title
|
Director(s)
|
Production country
|
| 27 |
Flóra Anna Buda |
France, Hungary
|
| 6 Minutes per Kilometre |
6 minutes/km |
Catherine Boivin |
Canada
|
| At Last |
Resmiye Emir |
Turkey
|
| Basri & Salma in a Never-Ending Comedy |
Basri & Salma Dalam Komedi Yang Terus Berputar |
Khozy Rizal |
Indonesia
|
| Beauty Visa |
Kate He, Simeon Hu |
United States
|
| Between Earth & Sky |
Andrew Nadkarni |
United States
|
| Blond Night |
Nuit blonde |
Gabrielle Demers |
Canada
|
| Boat People |
Thao Lam, Kjell Boersma |
Canada
|
| The Breakthrough |
Daniel Sinclair |
United States
|
| Calf |
Jamie O'Rourke |
Ireland
|
| Catherine & Michael |
Kathy Fusco |
United States
|
| Chemical Somnia |
Scott Portingale |
Canada
|
| Christopher at Sea |
Tom CJ Brown |
France
|
| Closing Dynasty |
Lloyd Lee Choi |
United States
|
| Coaching While Black |
Alex Eskandarkhah |
Canada
|
| Coddle No More |
Nicholas Bentgen |
United States
|
| Conviction |
Bruce Thomas Miller |
Canada
|
| Counter Clockwise |
Roman Shipley |
Canada
|
| Dead Cat |
Chat mort |
Annie-Claude Caron, Danick Audet |
Canada
|
| Death & Ramen |
Tiger Ji |
United States
|
| Death to the Bikini! |
À mort le bikini! |
Justine Gauthier |
Canada
|
| Detour |
Kargo Chen |
Hong Kong
|
| Dicks That I Like |
Johanna Gustin |
Germany
|
| Don't Come In...Yet |
Isaac Elliott |
Australia
|
| Eeva |
Lucija Mrzljak, Morten Tšinakov |
Croatia, Estonia
|
| The Family Portrait |
Lea Vidakovic |
Croatia, France, Serbia
|
| The Firefighter's Ball |
Le Bal des pompoers |
Baptiste Drapeau |
France
|
| Fishmonger |
Neil Ferron |
United States
|
| The Gateway |
Kamala Parel-Nuttall |
Canada
|
| The Girl with the Red Beret |
Janet Perlman |
Canada
|
| Go for Gold |
John Torres |
Canada
|
| Grill |
Jade Hærem Aksnes |
Norway
|
| Hide Your Crazy |
Austin Kase |
United States
|
| High End Dying |
Helen Liu |
Canada
|
| Hiraeth |
Emma McDonald |
Canada
|
| Hit Man: Secrets of Lies |
Elias Plagianos |
United States
|
| Hooks |
Les crochets |
Charles Parisé |
Canada
|
| Human Resources |
Ressources humaines |
Trinidad Plass, Titouan Tillier, Isaac Wenzek |
France
|
| I Have No Tears and I Must Cry |
Luis Fernando Puente |
United States
|
| In the Heat |
Sam Chou |
Canada
|
| It's a Date |
Nadia Parfan |
Ukraine
|
| Jack and Sam |
Jordan Matthew Horowitz |
United States
|
| Jinn Julian |
Jae Sterling |
Canada
|
| The Key to the Heart of Time |
MJ Hansen |
Canada
|
| A Kind of Testament |
Stephen Vuillemin |
France
|
| Kolaj |
Gülce Besen Dilek |
Germany
|
| Konpa |
Al'Ikens Plancher |
United States
|
| Lo-Tech Reality |
Guillermo Garcia Lopez |
Spain
|
| Losing Blue |
Leanne Allison |
Canada
|
| Making Money in Manitou, Manitoba |
Austin Ladouceur |
Canada
|
| Mine |
Esabella Strickland |
Canada
|
| Monstr |
Tank Standing Buffalo |
Canada
|
| My Eyes Are Up Here |
Nathan Morris |
United Kingdom
|
| Mystic Tiger |
Marc Martínez Jordán |
Spain
|
| Nai Nai & Wai Po: Grandma & Grandma |
Sean Wang |
United States
|
| Nian |
Michelle Krusiec |
United States
|
| Ninety-Five Senses |
Jerusha Hess, Jared Hess |
United States
|
| No More Kîyâm |
Lese Skidmore |
Canada
|
| Noodles Forever |
McKinley Carlin |
United States
|
| Okem |
Joshua Okwuosa |
Nigeria, United States
|
| Old Dragon Man |
Douglas Cook |
Canada
|
| Only You |
James David Duric |
Canada
|
| Operation Carl |
Sandra Rachel Hurd |
Canada
|
| The Orchestra Chuck Built |
Christopher Stoudt |
United States
|
| Overtime |
Jenny Lee-Gilmore |
Canada
|
| Pacific Bell |
Sandrine Béchade |
Canada
|
| Palm Sunday |
Wes Andre Goodrich |
United States
|
| Piece by Piece |
Reza Rasouli |
Austria
|
| Poof |
Margaret Miller |
United States
|
| Power Signal |
Oscar Boyson |
United States
|
| Pussy Love |
Linda Krauss |
Germany
|
| Rise of Afrobeats in the Prairies |
Fahad Suleiman |
Canada
|
| Salopica |
Serenella Sol, Callum McCormack |
Canada
|
| Shadow Brother Sunday |
Alden Ehrenreich |
United States
|
| Simone |
Aisha Amin |
United States
|
| Soleil de nuit |
Fernando Lopez Escriva, Maria Camila Arias |
Canada
|
| The Soup |
John Torres |
Canada
|
| The Sperm Bank |
Margaux Susi |
United States
|
| Suzy Makes Cupcakes |
Jayson Therrien |
Canada
|
| The Syrian Cosmonaut |
Charles Emir Richards |
Turkey
|
| Third Wheel |
Kevin Haefelin |
Japan, Switzerland
|
| Tiny |
Ritchie Hemphill, Ryan Haché |
Canada
|
| Two One Two |
Shira Avni |
Quebec
|
| Unveiled Traditions |
Lili Yas Tayefi |
Canada
|
| Wave Rider |
Dustin Chok |
Canada
|
| Well Wishes My Love, Your Love |
Gabriel Gabriel Garble |
Malaysia, Sweden
|
| White Ant |
Shalini Adnani |
India, United Kingdom
|
| Yellowbird |
Tsvetelina Zdraveva, Jerred North |
United States
|
| Zip |
Ava Maria Safai |
Canada
|
Special Experiences
References
- ^ Stephen Hunt, "CIFF lineup includes 20 Canadian feature premieres, including lots of Alberta content". CTV Calgary, August 31, 2023.
- ^ Aryn Toombs, "CIFF opens and closes festival with pair of award winning, crowd pleasing Canadian films". LiveWire Calgary, August 30, 2023.
- ^ Aryn Toombs, "Calgary International Film Festival adds new competition to 2023". LiveWire Calgary, August 16, 2023.
- ^ Aryn Toombs, "Winners of 2023 CIFF competitions unveiled". LiveWire Calgary, September 25, 2023.
- ^ "Summer Qamp, Drawing a Life audience favourites at CIFF". LiveWire Calgary, October 3, 2023.
External links