The Canadian film industry may be small but it’s big on passion, driving thousands of people to dedicate their lives and careers to bringing Canadian stories to screen.

And some of those people do it for free.

Every year, the Canadian Film Centre (CFC) honours a selection of individuals who have dedicated untold hours to ensuring that CFC projects get off the ground with the Payback Award, sponsored by Playback.

This year’s recipients include Natasha Lawlor, production manager on short Hailstorm, Alex Poutiainen, who contributed 198 volunteer hours to the CFC in 2014 alone, and Gus Harris, a sound recordist who put in a whopping 348 volunteer hours on film centre productions. The Payback Industry Award went to Stephanie Fagan of Panavision Canada, who ensures crews have the equipment they need, when and how they need it.

The awards were handed out in advance of the CFC’s annual Short Dramatic Film Showcase, an annual screening event featuring the final projects from the year’s short dramatic film program.

Screened Tuesday night were: The Whale, from writer/director Michael Peterson and producer Kat Hidalgo; Hailstorm from writer/director John Virtue and producers Hidalgo and Sebastian Barriuso; Still, from writer/director Slater Jewell-Kemker and producers Courtenay Bainbridge and Jonathan Bronfman; Life on Juniper from writer/director Mark Ratzlaff and producers Bainbridge and Luke Black; and What Doesn’t Kill You from director Rob Grant, writer Stu Marks and producers Black and Peter Harvey.

Full credits for each film can be found here.

Pictured (left to right): Slawko Klymkiw, CEO, CFC; Harris; Poutiainen; Fagan; Katie Bailey, Playback; Rechna Varma, executive in charge of production & post, CFC