Sahkosh Productions’ Simply Johanne (pictured) is the recipient of the Outstanding Feature Film Award, for the 2024 Reelworld Film Festival.

The documentary, written and directed by Nadine Valcin, tells the story of Montreal model, actor and writer Johanne Harrelle who was one of the first Black women to rise to prominence in North American fashion. Ania Jamila and Josiane Blanc are producers on the film and it is distributed by Montreal’s Les Films du 3 Mars.

“I would like to express my most heartfelt thanks to Reelworld for programming Simply Johanne for its Toronto premiere, and for this award,” said Valcin in a statement. “It’s especially meaningful as documentaries often take a backseat to fiction films.”

The award, which came with a $20,000 cash prize, was one of the 15 film awards announced on the Reelworld Screen Institute YouTube channel Tuesday (Nov. 12) evening.

Other winners for this year’s festival include the opening night film, Bobby Singh Brown’s Stealing Vows (BSB Films). The film, which Brown wrote alongside Ali Hassan, won the $2,000 Audience Choice Award. Inspired by a true story, the film follows four wedding vendors robbing wealthy clients during their receptions.

Brown also took home Outstanding Feature Film Producer award while Gia Sandhu (A Simple Favour) received the Outstanding Feature Film Actress for her performance in Stealing Vows.

The Madman (Rotin Productions), written and directed by Akram Adouani, also received multiple awards. Hazem Berrabah and Omar Bouhoula won Outstanding Feature Film Cinematography while Olivier Ross-Parent (Reversal of Fortune) won Outstanding Feature Film Actor.

The last two feature awards went to Reza Dahya for his direction in Boxcutter (Scenario Media) and Corey Payette for writing Les Filles du Roi (Urban Ink Productions). Payette directed the film and wrote it alongside Julie McIsaac.

Tara Taylor, festival director and co-founder of the Emerging Lens Cultural Film Festival; Pakistani-Canadian screenwriter Abdul Malik (Peace by Chocolate); and writer, director and showrunner Mary Galloway (The Cowichan Sweater: Our Knitted Legacy) juried the awards. All of the juried feature film awards, not including outstanding feature, come with a cash prize of $1,000.

Amir Zargara’s Farsi-language A Good Day Will Come (Zargara Productions, Haurvatat Films, Lenz Films) was named Outstanding Short Film, which came with a $10,000 cash prize. Zargara, who also wrote the film about an Iranian professional wrestler struggling to stand up to tyranny, received the award for Outstanding Short Film Producer as well. All of the other short film awards come with a cash prize of $750.

Tara Aghdashloo was named the Outstanding Short Film Director for Empty Your Pockets (OPC Production, Intermission Film) with Kiarash Dadgar named Outstanding Short Film Actor for his performance in the film.

Carine Zahner won best Outstanding Short Film Cinematography for her work in Leah Doz’ Strangers; Ian Bawa received the Outstanding Short Film Writer award for My Son Went Quiet; and Aixa Kay won Outstanding Short Film Actress for her performance in Alireza Kazemipour and Panta Mosleh’s Hatch.

The jurors for the short film awards included Somali-Canadian producer and filmmaker Ladan M. Siad (Jude and the Jinn); Toronto-based writer and director Ravi Steve Khajuria (I Will Bury You); and Marwa Siam-Abdou, national outreach manager at the Directors Guild of Canada. All of the short film awards, not including Outstanding Short Film, come with a cash prize of $750.

The Reelworld Film Festival+Summit began Oct. 21 and ran until Nov. 3.

Image courtesy of Les Films du 3 Mars