Nisha Pahuja’s feature documentary To Kill a Tiger and Justine Martin’s short doc Oasis have been shortlisted for 96th Academy Awards.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the short lists in 10 categories on Dec. 21, 2023. Nominations for the 96th Oscars will be announced on Jan. 23, with the awards ceremony taking place on March 10.

To Kill a Tiger (pictured) is one of 15 films shortlisted for the Documentary Feature Film category out of a total 115 qualifying titles. The film is directed by Pahuja, who also produced under her Notice Pictures Banner alongside National Film Board of Canada’s (NFB) David Oppenheim and Cornelia Principe.

To Kill a Tiger documents one father’s fight to bring his 13-year-old daughter’s rapists to justice in a small village in India. The film has received more than 20 Canadian and international awards, most recently picking up the Directors Guild of Canada’s (DGC) Allan King Award for Excellence in Documentary for Pahuja.

Quebec writer-director Martin’s Oasis is among 15 films shortlisted in the Documentary Short Film category. The film is produced by Louis-Emmanuel Gagné-Brochu of Montreal-based Déjà Vu Productions and distributed by Quebec’s Travelling. Oasis centres on twin brothers — one with a disability — at the dawn of their teenage years whose bond slowly begins to fade.

Lucy Grizzli Sophie to open Rendez-Vous Québec Cinéma

Anne Émond’s Lucy Grizzli Sophie will make its world premiere as the opening film of the 42nd edition of Rendez-Vous Québec Cinéma in Montreal.

The psychological thriller is directed by Émond and adapted from the play La Meute by the film’s star and playwright Catherine-Anne Toupin. The film also stars Guillaume Cyr, Lise Roy and Marjorie Armstrong. It centres on the story of a traumatized woman who escapes her reality and ends up in a lodge far away from home, where she encounters a man and “a disturbing complicity emerges.”

Lucy Grizzli Sophie is produced by Azimut Films’ Félize Frappier and KO24’s Louis-Philippe Drolet and Louis Morissette. Sphere Films is distributing the film in Canada.

Rendez-Vous Québec Cinéma will be held from Feb. 21 to March 2.

Peter Pearson, George Stroumboulopoulos among new Order of Canada appointees

Screenwriter and director Peter Pearson and television host George Stroumboulopoulos are among 78 Canadians appointed to the Order of Canada.

Pearson served as president of the DGC from 1972 to 1975 and the executive director of Telefilm Canada from 1985 to 1987, and is best known for the 1968 film The Best Damn Fiddler from Calabogie to Kaladar. He was appointed Officer of the Order for his “groundbreaking contributions as a filmmaker and for his tireless advocacy of Canadian film and television.”

Host, broadcaster, and former MuchMusic VJ Stroumboulopoulos, meanwhile, was inducted as a Member of the Order for his “leading contributions to Canadian media and journalism as a renowned broadcaster and producer in television and radio.”

NFB doc A Man Imagined to world premiere at International Film Festival Rotterdam

Montreal filmmaking duo Brian M. Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky’s NFB doc A Man Imagined will make its world bow at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR).

A Man Imagined, written and directed by Cassidy and Shatzky, follows the life of a 67-year-old man with schizophrenia, whose past holds “an unspeakable mystery.” The title will premiere in the festival’s Short & Mid-length program, which takes place from Jan. 26 to 29.

The film is produced by former NFB executive producer Rohan Fernando, who is also credited as an executive producer alongside Annette Clarke.

The 2024 IFFR runs from Jan 25. to Feb. 4.

Image courtesy of the NFB and Notice Pictures