September 13, 2024

WIFF ANNOUNCES 2024 PRIZE IN CANADIAN FILM NOMINEES

Learn about the 2024 nominees of the Canadian Prize.

WIFF) is pleased to unveil the 10 exceptional films nominated for the coveted WIFF Prize in Canadian Film. This esteemed accolade celebrates outstanding achievement in Canadian cinema and the director of the chosen film will receive a cash prize of $25,000. Celebrating its milestone 20th anniversary, WIFF takes place October 24 to November 3, 2024.

All 10 nominees will screen at the Festival this fall and the winner, selected by an independent jury of industry professionals, will be announced on October 27.

This year’s ten nominees for the WIFF Prize in Canadian Film are:

ANY OTHER WAY: THE JACKIE SHANE STORY, directed by Michael Mabbott & Lucah Rosenberg-Lee

HUNTING DAZE, directed by Annick Blanc

LUCY GRIZZLI SOPHIE, directed by Anne Émond

ON EARTH AS IN HEAVEN, directed by Nathalie Saint-Pierre

PAYING FOR IT, directed by Sook-Yin Lee

REALLY HAPPY SOMEDAY, directed by J Stevens

RUSSIANS AT WAR, directed by Anastasia Trofimova

SHARP CORNER, directed by Jason Buxton

UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE, directed by Matthew Rankin

WHO DO I BELONG TO, directed by Meryam Joobeur

“This year’s nominees represent the best of Canada’s ever-evolving film landscape, and we’re proud to recognize their remarkable achievement,” said Vincent Georgie, Executive Director and Chief Programmer, WIFF. “It’s a privilege to showcase these filmmakers’ incredible work and we look forward to celebrating them with the WIFF Prize in Canadian Film.”

Past recipients of the WIFF Prize in Canadian Film include Ariane Louis-Seize (Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person, 2023), Anthony Shim (Riceboy Sleeps, 2022) and Myriam Verreault (Kuessipan, 2021).

Learn more about this year’s nominees:

aNY OTHER WAY: THE JACKIE SHANE STORY, directed by mICHAEL MABBOTT & LUCAH ROSENBERG-LEE

A star is reborn. With an outsize stage presence that eclipsed even the greatest R&B artists, trans soul singer Jackie Shane shattered barriers with raw talent, courage and an unbreakable commitment to truth. Through never-before-heard phone conversations, dazzling animation and an incredible soundtrack, the full scope of her extraordinary life and career is finally revealed in this remarkable portrait.

HUNTING DAZE, directed by ANNICK BLANC

Nina, a young tempestuous woman, finds herself stranded in the far North. She convinces her recent customers, five men on a bachelor hunting trip, to put her up for a few days. In this masculine microsociety, by turns hilarious and philosophical, Cynthia starts to feel a sense of belonging she never has before. But a mysterious stranger’s arrival changes the course of this improvised holiday forever.

Both raw and dreamlike, Hunting Daze offers up a unique universe where humour, horror, the uncanny, and the sensual combine.

LUCY GRIZZLI SOPHIE, directed by ANNE Émond

Sophie, hunted and traumatized, is looking for an escape. She books a room in a B&B hundreds of miles from where she lives. Upon arrival, she’s welcomed by Martin, who lives on the premises with his aunt Louise. Over the course of a few well-watered evenings, the man and the visitor form a disturbing bond… And what if Sophie’s presence in this remote hamlet wasn’t quite by chance?

A terribly relevant psychological thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

ON EARTH AS IN HEAVEN, directed by NATHALIE SAINT-PIERRE

Two young sisters – Clara and Sarah Gagnon – have always lived in the countryside with their parents, in a Christian community cut off from the world. The day Sarah suddenly disappears, Clara collapses. Convinced that she knows where her sister is hiding, Clara runs away in the hope of bringing her back to “the right path”. Clara arrives in Montreal at the home of her aunt Louise, who is a stranger to her, and discovers with horror that her sister is not there. When her aunt tells her that she is getting ready to go on vacation, Clara realizes that she only has ten days to find her sister. As she searches through the city, Clara discovers the world, doubt and the price of freedom.

PAYING FOR IT, directed by SOOK-YIN LEE

Paying For It is a live-action adaptation of acclaimed alternative-cartoonist Chester Brown’s best-selling graphic novel. In the late 90s, Chester and Sonny are a long-term, committed, romantic couple. When Sonny wants to redefine their relationship, Chester, an introverted cartoonist, starts sleeping with sex workers and discovers a new kind of intimacy in the process. Paying For It is about love, sex and non-monogamy for adults. It deals with the complicated subject of the exchange for sex-work versus the complications of romantic love.

REALLY HAPPY SOMEDAY, directed by J STEVENS

Z, a transmasculine theatre performer, bombs a pivotal musical theatre audition, unable to control his voice after starting testosterone 12 months earlier. To save his own life and livelihood, Z must rediscover himself and his voice.

RUSSIANS AT WAR, directed by ANASTASIA TROFIMOVA

Anastasia Trofimova, a Russian-Canadian filmmaker, gains unprecedented access to follow a Russian Army battalion in Ukraine. Without any official clearance or permits, she earns the trust of foot soldiers and for much of 2023 embeds herself with the battalion as it makes its way across Eastern Ukraine. What she discovers is far from the narratives propagated by the East or West: a war cutting through family and historical ties, soldiers disillusioned and often struggling to understand what they are fighting for.

SHARP CORNER, directed by JASON BUXTON

A dedicated family man becomes obsessed with saving the lives of the car accident victims on the sharp corner in front of his house – an obsession that could cost him everything.

UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE, directed by MATTHEW RANKIN

Winter. Somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg. Negin and Nazgol find a large sum of money frozen deep within the sidewalk ice and try to find a way to get it out. Massoud leads a group of befuddled tourists upon an increasingly-absurd walking tour of Winnipeg monuments and historic sites. Matthew leaves his job at the Québec government and embarks upon a mysterious journey to visit his estranged mother. Time, geography and identities crossfade, interweave and collide into a surreal comedy of misdirection.

Structured like a Venn diagram – at the point of confluence between Jacques Tati and Abbas Kiarostami’s Koker Trilogy – Universal Language is at once a diary film, an absurdist city symphony and a welling-up of confinement-era emotion exploring the mysterious interzone where one person ends and the rest of the world begins. An elusive, half- remembered dream of home, solitude, our responsibilities to others and the wild turkeys that haunt us.

WHO DO I BELONG TO, directed by MERYAM JOOBEUR

A Tunisian woman is caught between her maternal love and her search for the truth when her son returns home from war and unleashes a darkness throughout their village.

Tickets are available online now, and in person at our box office on October 17, 2024.