Posted on June 5, 2017

The Calgary International Film Festival has announced a new award recognizing the Best Canadian Narrative Feature Film at the festival.  

Coming with a cash prize of $10,000, the jury award is supported by RBC’s Emerging Artists Project. The jury will consider Canadian narrative features with an emphasis on emerging directors and those who do not yet have a history of major theatrical distribution.

“How better to celebrate Canada’s 150th birthday than by launching the new Best Canadian Narrative Feature Award with a remarkable cash prize to nurture our nation’s own emerging talent?" said Calgary International Film Festival Executive Director Steve Schroeder.

The new award is supported by RBC's Emerging Artists Project, which helps artists bridge the gap from emerging to established, and supports organizations that provide the best opportunity to advance their career trajectory. 

"RBC has been a longtime festival partner, and their goal of supporting emerging artists really aligns with the development of this new award," said Schroeder.

The winner will be announced as part of the Awards Party, a new event that will take place on the final Sunday of the 18th Calgary International Film Festival presented by ATB Financial. All jury and audience awards will be announced at this event.

The Calgary International Film Festival has also revamped the Best of Shorts jury cash awards, providing $2,500 to the top shorts in three categories: Best Alberta Short, Best Narrative Short (Live Action or Animated) and Best Documentary Short. Supported by Minimax, Copyseis and Jerilyn Wright & Associates, the Best of Shorts finalists will all screen in one package on the closing Sunday of the festival, prior to the winners being announced at the Awards Presentation & Celebration. The winner of the Best Narrative Short Film (Live Action or Animated) Award will qualify for Academy Award consideration, as the Calgary International Film Festival is an Oscar-accredited festival for short films in the Live Action and Animated categories.

"We are incredibly excited to announce a greatly enhanced and streamlined suite of awards in time for this September’s festival. For the first time we'll be incorporating the Best Alberta Short Award into our celebrated Best of Shorts program, putting our province’s homegrown filmmaking talent directly alongside the best in short film from around the world," said Schroeder.

New this year will be a Fan Award, which will recognize one film that the festival's most dedicated audience members can vote on. Supported by Evans Hunt and Stone-Olafson, any audience member who purchases a festival pass or ticket package will be able to vote on this award following the festival.

"Our new Fan Award gives the festival’s most passionate multiple film attendees a special way to help single out the best of the fest, as just one more way we put the audience’s engagement at the centre of what we do," Schroeder added.

The festival will continue to collect ballots at each screening from all audience members, where they will vote on their favourite films of the festival. The Audience Awards, supported by CTV, will be presented in the following categories:

Audience Favourite, Alberta Feature (NEW)
Audience Favourite, Narrative Feature
Audience Favourite, Documentary Feature
Audience Favourite, Alberta Short (NEW)
Audience Favourite, Narrative Short (Live Action or Animated) 
Audience Favourite, Documentary Short

For more information about all of the festival's awards see www.calgaryfilm.com/awards. 

Submissions to the Calgary International Film Festival are open until June 15. Fees are waived for Alberta filmmakers. The festival runs September 20 - October 1, 2017.

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For more information or to book interviews contact:
Nadine bibi, Marketing Director, The Calgary International Film Festival
nadine.bibi@calgaryfilm.com
403.452.4845

About the Calgary International Film Festival

The Calgary International Film Festival (Calgary Film) is a 12-day showcase of up to 200 multi-genre feature and short films from Canada and over 40 other countries. The festival hosts gala events, screenings, special presentations, and a Behind the Screen series that emphasizes unique and exciting ways for filmmakers and fans to interact.

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