BC Spotlight Awards
Sea to Sky Award | Winner: Banchi Hanuse for Nuxalk Radio
Special Mention: Meredith Hama-Brown for Cosmic
Presented by TELUS
$20,000 cash prize. This award recognizes the outstanding work of one female key creative on a BC-produced feature or short.
Jurors: Harry Cepka, Anthony Shim, Ying Wang
Best BC Film Award | Winner: The Curse of Willow Song by Karen Lam
Presented by Creative BC and Company 3
$10,000 from Creative BC and $15,000 in post-production services credit supplied by Company 3.
Jurors: Harry Cepka, Anthony Shim, Ying Wang
BC Emerging Filmmaker Award | Winner: Jessie Anthony for Brother, I Cry
Presented by UBCP/ACTRA & William F. White International Inc.
$5,000 award from UBCP/ACTRA, plus a $10,000 equipment credit supplied by William F. White International Inc.
Jurors: Harry Cepka, Anthony Shim, Ying Wang
Best BC Short Film | Winner: Cake Day by Phillip Thomas
Special Mention: Sunken Cave and a Migrating Bird by Qiuli Wu
Presented by TELUS Storyhive$5,000 award presented by TELUS Storyhive.
Jurors: Sandra Ignagni, Jessica Johnson, Lawrence Le Lam
Canadian Awards
Best Canadian Film | Winner: Beans by Tracey Deer
Special Mention: Nadia, Butterfly by Pascal Plante
$15,000 award presented by the Directors Guild of Canada.
Jurors: Igor Drljača, Zach Lipovsky, Amber Ripley
Emerging Canadian Director | Winners: Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli for Violation
$3,000 award presented by the Directors Guild of Canada.
Jurors: Igor Drljača, Zach Lipovsky, Amber Ripley
Best Canadian Documentary | Winner: Call Me Human by Kim O'Bomsawin
Special Mention: Prayer for a Lost Mitten by Jean-François Lesage
$15,000 prize presented by the Rogers Group of Funds.
Jurors: Teresa Alfeld, Antoine Bourges, Sean Devlin
Best Canadian Short Film | Winner: Bad Omen by Salar Pashtoonyar
Special Mention: Moon by Zoé Pelchat
$15,000 in colour grading and/or VFX services credit supplied by Side Street Post and $2,000 award presented by VIFF.
Jurors: Sandra Ignagni, Jessica Johnson, Lawrence Le Lam
International Awards
VIFF Impact Award | Winner: The Reason I Jump by Jerry Rothwell
$5,000 prize. Presented by the Lochmaddy Foundation
Jurors: Michelle Bjornson, Susan Buie, Selwyn Jacob
Rob Stewart Eco Warrior Award | Winner: Peter Wohlleben, subject of The Hidden Life of Trees
$5,000 prize. Presented by RBC and Cineplex
VIFF Immersed Awards
Jurors: Jingshu Chen, Valerie Creighton, Larry Cutler, Michael Daut, Jonathan Griffith, Eric Krueger, Dario Laverde, Tony Mugavero, Salar Shahna, Colum Slevin, Loretta Todd
Best in Cinematic Live-Action | Winner: Kowloon Forest by Alexey Marfin
Best in Documentary | Winner: By the Waters of Babylon by Kristen Lauth Shaeffer, Andrew Halasz
Best in Animation | Winner: The Book of Distance by Randall Okita
Honorable Mention in Animation | In the Land of Flabby Schnook by Francis Gélinas
Determined by unanimous decision from the jury
Audience Award | Winner: Ecosphere: Raja Ampat by Joseph Purdam
Determined by votes cast on the VeeR VR platform