2023 Calgary International Film Festival Explained
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 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 | | 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
English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
---|
20,000 Species of Bees | 20.000 especies de abejas | | Spain |
Animalia | Parmi nous | | Morocco, France, Qatar |
Benji's Hour | Gabriel Kahane | United States |
Blaga's Lessons | Urotcite na Blaga | Stefan Komanderev | Bulgaria, Germany |
Close to You | | Canada, United Kingdom |
Elaha | Milena Aboyan | Germany |
Martínez | Lorena Padilla | Mexico |
The Mattachine Family | Andy Vallentine | United States |
The Other Widow | הפילגש | Maayan Rypp | France, Israel |
The Persian Version | | Turkey, United States |
Riley | | United States |
Tótem | | Mexico, Denmark, France | |
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 | | 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 | | France, Japan |
Silver Dollar Road | | 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 | | United States | |
Features not in competition
English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
---|
About Dry Grasses | Kuru Otlar Üstüne | | Turkey, France, Germany, Sweden |
Anatomy of a Fall | Anatomie d'une chute | | France |
The Animal Kingdom | Le Règne animal | | France |
Big Boys | Corey Sherman | United States |
La Chimera | | Italy, France, Switzerland |
The Delinquents | Los delincuentes | | Argentina, Brazil, Luxembourg, Chile |
A Difficult Year | Une année difficile | | France |
Drop | Ramin Eshraghi-Yazdi | Canada |
Dumb Money | | United States |
Evil Does Not Exist | 悪は存在しない | | Japan |
Fallen Leaves | Kuolleet lehdet | | Finland, Germany |
Faultline | Anna Cooley | Canada |
Hailey Rose | Sandi Somers | Canada |
How to Have Sex | | 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 | | United Kingdom |
Kidnapped | Rapito | | Italy, France, Germany |
Little Brother | Sheridan O'Donnell | United States |
A Little Prayer | | United States |
Mayhem | Farang | | France, Thailand |
Monster | 怪物 | | Japan |
The Old Oak | | United Kingdom, France, Belgium |
Peak Season | Steven Kanter, Henry Loevner | United States |
Perfect Days | | Japan, Germany |
The Pot-au-Feu | La Passion de Dodin Bouffant | | France |
The Promised Land | Bastarden | | Denmark, Germany, Sweden |
The Puppetman | Brandon Christensen | United States |
Robot Dreams | | Spain, France |
Romi | | Canada |
The Royal Hotel | | Australia, United Kingdom |
The Sacrifice Game | Jenn Wexler | United States |
Seven Veils | | Canada |
Sleep | 잠 | Jason Yu | South Korea |
The Teachers' Lounge | Das Lehrerzimmer | Ilker Çatak | Germany |
The Ties That Bind | James Reckseidler | Canada |
Tótem | | 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 | | Germany |
Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life | Dan Covert | United States |
Immediate Family | Denny Tedesco | United States |
| 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 | | Canada |
Patria y Vida: The Power of Music | Beatriz Luengo | Spain |
They Shot the Piano Player | Dispararon al pianista | | Spain, France, Netherlands |
The Stones & Brian Jones | | 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 | | Canada | |
Shorts
English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
---|
27 | | France, Hungary |
6 Minutes per Kilometre | 6 minutes/km | Catherine Boivin | Canada |
At Last | Resmiye Emir | Turkey |
Basri and 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 | | Canada |
Boat People | | 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 | | 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 | | 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 | | 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 | | 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 Sumday | 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
English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
---|
Heartland Special gala screening of episode #250 | Dean Bennett | Canada |
| Vanessa Matsui | Canada |
| | United States |
Smoke Signals retrospective screening linked to competition title Hey, Viktor! | | United States | |
Notes and 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.
- https://livewirecalgary.com/2023/10/03/summer-qamp-drawing-a-life-audience-favourites-at-ciff/ "Summer Qamp, Drawing a Life audience favourites at CIFF"