The Windsor International Film Festival (WIFF) has revealed the 10 titles nominated for the 2025 WIFF Prize in Canadian Film.

Launched in 2019, the annual award recognizes outstanding achievement in Canadian cinema, and is accompanied by a cash prize of $25,000. Past recipients of the honour include Who Do I Belong To from director Meryam Joobeur, Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person by Ariane Louis-Seize and Anthony Shim’s Riceboy Sleeps.

All 10 nominated films will screen at the 2025 edition of WIFF, which runs from Oct. 23 to Nov. 2. An independent jury of industry professionals will select the winning film, which will be announced on Oct. 26.

Among the nominees are two films that will arrive at WIFF fresh from their world premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival: Oscar nominee Philippe Falardeau’s Lovely Day (micro_scope), and The Cost of Heaven (Coop Vidéo de Montréal), from director Mathieu Denis. Also nominated for the WIFF Prize is the TIFF 2025 closing film Peak Everything (Metafilms), directed by Anne Émond.

Other French-language films vying for the award are Compulsive Liar 2 (Amalga Créations), directed by Émile Gaudreault; Montreal, My Beautiful (Red Dawn Productions, House on Fire Productions) from Xiaodan He; Where Souls Go (Bravo Charlie), directed by Brigitte Poupart; and Chloé Robichaud’s Two Women (Amérique Film), which won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award for Writing at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.

Rounding out the nominees are the TVO-commissioned documentaries The Pitch (The Cutting Factory) from director Michèle Hozer, and Shamed (Border City Pictures) by Matt Gallagher; and the thriller In Cold Light (Périphéria, Lithium Studios; pictured), the English-language debut of Quebec director Maxime Giroux (Felix and Meira).

“This year’s nominated films showcase the remarkable breadth of Canadian talent, from powerful storytelling to striking visual artistry,” said WIFF executive director and chief programmer Vincent Georgie in a statement.

Image courtesy of Elevation Pictures