R y Levey’s Out in the Ring (pictured) took Best Canadian Feature while Joseph Sackett’s Homebody won Best First Feature at the 2022 Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival in Toronto. Snagging the award for Best Canadian Short was Dylan Glynn’s Thot or Not, while Bria McLaughlin’s Save the Date nabbed the Emerging Canadian Artist honour.

The Audience Award winners at the festival, which ran from May 26 to June 5, included Amelia Eloisa’s We Will Never Belong for Best Narrative Feature, Jacquie Lawrence’s Gateways Grind for Best Documentary Feature and Nyala Moon’s How Not to Date While Trans for Best Short Film.

Winning the annual Pitch, Please! contest was director Odu Adamu for his upcoming project The Skin We’re In. The prize offers a cash production grant of $5,000 sponsored by Netflix, as well as a $10,000 in-kind package sponsored by Final Draft, Moondog, EP Canada, William F. White, and the Banff World Media Festival.

DGC renames Discovery award in honour of Vallée

The Directors Guild of Canada has renamed its DGC Discovery Award for emerging feature filmmakers as the Jean-Marc Vallée DGC Discovery Award in tribute to the late Montreal director, who died last December.

The guild has also announced plans to create two new special awards this year: the DGC Visionaries Award and the DGC Impact Award. Both will be introduced at the first-ever West Coast DGC Awards Gala in Vancouver on Nov. 5, celebrating the DGC’s 60th anniversary year.

Quebecor Fund announces production assistance funding

The Quebecor Fund has announced funding for Canadian production companies in the 44th round of its Television Production Assistance Program. Under the Support for the Creation of Intellectual Property component, $550,000 goes to three projects from prodcos KOTV, Squeeze, and Carpediem. The broadcasters investing in the development of the projects are Radio-Canada and Télé-Québec.

Under the Support for the Production of Intellectual Property for International Markets component, launched in partnership with the Canada Media Fund, Quebecor Fund is contributing $1,891,667 and the CMF $593,333, for a total of $2,485,000. Quebecor Fund’s contribution will be divided among nine fiction series, while the CMF’s contribution will be spread out among seven.

The nine fiction series include: TVA Group’s Les Affluents from Pixcom Productions, with international distributor Pixcom International; Bell Media’s L’Empereur from Sovimage, with international distributor Encore Télévision; season two of TVA Group’s Last Summers of the Raspberries (Le Temps des framboises) from Trio Orange; and Radio-Canada’s La Candidate from Encore Télévision.

The list is rounded out by: season two of Bell Media’s Aller simple from Sphère Média; TVA Group’s Derniers recours from Aetios Productions; Bell Media’s Désobéir – Le Choix de Chantale Daigle from ALSO Productions; season two of Bell Media’s Moi non plus from Encore Télévision; and TVA Group’s Ma Mère from Duo Productions.

Quickening to open FOFS

Quickening, the debut feature from writer-director Haya Waseem and producer Yona Strauss, has been chosen as the first-ever feature for Toronto’s Future of Film Showcase (FOFS). The festival typically showcases shorts but will screen Quickening this year as its opening night film, followed by the shorts Abuela, directed by Rebeca Ortiz, and Rebeccah Love’s Eve Parade.

The ninth edition of FOFS runs in person and on CBC Gem from June 17 to 25.

FeFF back to in-person festivities

Toronto’s Female Eye Film Festival (FeFF), founded by Canadian director-writer Leslie Ann Coles, is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a return to in-person events, running June 9 to 12 at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

The opening night feature is the Canada/Malta coproduction Carmen by Valerie Buhagiar, who will receive the Best in the Biz tribute at the festival. Other Canadian features include Were All in This Together by Katie Boland, The Kissing Game by newcomer Véa, and Be Still by Elizabeth Lazebnik.

FeFF’s Industry Initiatives, supported by Ontario Creates and ACTRA Fraternal Benefits, will include the 10th annual Live Pitch.