Several Canadian features were among the nine audience award winners at the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF).

Attendees cast almost 35,000 ballots throughout the 41st edition of VIFF, which presented more than 230 films from Sept. 29 to Oct. 9, according to a news release issued Tuesday (Oct. 18).

Homegrown films that took an audience honour in their respective series included Anthony Shim’s Riceboy Sleeps, which screened in the Northern Lights section. Directed, written and produced by Shim — alongside producers Rebecca Steele and Bryan Demore — the immigrant drama previously won VIFF’s 2022 Best Canadian Film Award and took the Platform Prize at last month’s Toronto International Film Festival.

Other Canadians taking VIFF audience awards included Marie Clements’ documentary Lay Down Your Heart, produced by Shirley Vercruysse, which made its world premiere in the Portraits section; Kathleen S. Jayme’s documentary The Grizzlie Truth, produced by Michael Tanko Grand and James Brown, which had its world premiere as a special presentation; and Chelsea McMullan’s Crystal Pite: Angels’ Atlas, which was produced by Sean O’Neill and had its world premiere in the Showcase section.

Meanwhile, Tamo Campos and Jasper Snow-Rosen’s Canadian documentary The Klabona Keepers (pictured), produced by Rhoda Quock, won an audience award in the Insights series. The film also previously received the $5,000 Rob Stewart Change Maker Screening award, and a special mention in the Best BC Film category.

The international audience award winners are: Mongolian filmmaker Amarsaikhan Baljinnyam’s Harvest Moon, produced by Uran Sainbileg, which screened in the Vanguard series; U.K.-based filmmaker Lizzie MacKenzie’s The Hermit of Treig, which she produced with Naomi Spiro, which was in the Spectrum series; Maryam Touzani’s Morocco/France/Belgium/Den copro The Blue Caftan, produced by Nabil Ayouch, which was in the Panorama series; and French filmmaker Lola Quivoron’s Rodeo, produced by Charles Gillibert, which screened in the Altered States series.

Other Canadian titles that took previously announced juried awards include Sophie Jarvis’ Until Branches Bend for Best BC Film Award; Meran Ismailsoy and Anya Chirkova’s Baba for Best Canadian Short; Jacquelyn Mills’ Geographies of Solitude for Best Canadian Documentary; while Charlotte Le Bon won Emerging Canadian Director for Falcon Lake.

Image courtesy of VIFF