Vancouver International Film Fest announces award winners

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      The 2021 Vancouver International Film Festival ended on Monday (October 11) after presenting 283 screenings of 192 films to more than 36,000 virtual and in-person attendees.

      “It was an incredible feeling to celebrate the 40th edition of VIFF back in cinemas, watching films with our community,“ says festival executive-director Kyle Fostner in a press release. “Drawing inspiration from our long-standing patrons and our new members alike, we’ve overcome a challenging year through adaptation and innovation."

      Today the festival announced its full list of 2021 award winners: 

      Handle With Care: The Legend of the Notic Streetball Crew won two awards.

      In the BC Spotlight Awards category, winner for Best B.C. Film was Handle With Care: The Legend of the Notic Streetball Crew (Jeremy Schaulin-Roux and Kirk Thomas); winner of B.C. Emerging Filmmaker was Trevor Mack (Portraits From a Fire); and Best B.C. Short Film was The Horses (Liz Cairns).

      In the Canadian Awards section, Best Canadian Film went to Sin La Habana (Kaveh Nabatian); Emerging Canadian Director went to Caroline Monnet (Bootlegger); Best Canadian Documentary went to Returning Home (Sean Stiller); and Best Canadian Short Film went to Together (Albert Shin).

      In the International Awards, the Impact Award went to Blue Box (Michael Weits); and the Rob Stewart Eco Warrior Award went to Coextinction (Gloria Pancrazi and Elena Jean).

      For the VIFF Audience Awards, Galas & Special Presentations went to Official Competition (Mariano Cohn and Gaston Duprat); Contemporary World Cinema went to The In-Laws (Kuba Michalczuk); True North went to Handle With Care: The Legend of the Notic Streetball Crew (Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux and Kirk Thomas); Gateway went to Time (Ricky Ko); Impact went to Little Palestine: Diary of an Occupation (Abdallah Al-Khalib); Insights went to The Six (Arthur Jones); M/A/D went to Charlotte (Eric Warin and Tahir Rana); and Altered States went to Saloum (Jean Luc Herbulot).

      Caroline Monnet won the Emerging Canadian Director award for Bootlegger.

      And in the VIFF Immersed Awards, Cinematic Live Action Category went to Symphony (Igor Cortadellas); Documentary Category went to Inside COVID19 (Gary Yost and Adam Loften); Augmented Reality Category went to Mission to Mars AR (Piotr Baczyński and Bartosz Rosłoński); Animation Category went to Beat (Keisuke Itoh); VeeR Audience Award went to Red Eyes (Sngmoo Lee); and XR Market Grant went to Memory Place (Zeynep Abes).

      "VIFF is immensely proud to be a film festival that fosters the creative vision of both emerging and established filmmakers," added Fostner in the press release, "offering them a platform to experiment, to explore, and to share their stories. We look forward to the next 40 years of supporting bold storytelling, diverse expression, and daring voices.”

      Video: See clips from VIFF award winners.

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