2023 Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival

2023 Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival
Opening filmRose by Niels Arden Oplev
Closing filmHumanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person by Ariane Louis-Seize
LocationSudbury, Ontario, Canada
Founded1989
Festival dateSeptember 16–24, 2023
Websitecinefest.com
Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival

The 2023 edition of the Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival, the 35th edition in the event's history, took place from September 16 to 24, 2023 in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.[1]

The 2023 festival returned to a fully in-person model, following the partially-online hybrid festivals that took place from 2020 to 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] Following reduced attendance during the pandemic, the 2023 festival saw such a renewed surge of audience interest that its website briefly crashed on the Thursday before the festival opening.[3]

Awards

Award winners were announced on September 28.[4]

Award Film Filmmaker
Audience Choice, Feature Film The Old Oak Ken Loach
Audience Choice, Feature Film Runner-Up Anatomy of a Fall (Anatomie d'un chute) Justine Triet
Audience Choice, Documentary Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe Robert McCallum
Audience Choice, Documentary Runner Up Swan Song Chelsea McMullan
Audience Choice, Short Film Death to the Bikini! (À mort le bikini!) Justine Gauthier
Audience Choice, Short Film Runner Up Lingering Pieces Jacqueline Lamb
Outstanding Canadian Feature Seagrass Meredith Hama-Brown
Outstanding International Feature The Royal Hotel Kitty Green
Outstanding Female-Led Feature Film Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Savvusanna sõsarad) Anna Hints
Cinema Indigenized Outstanding Talent Aitamaako'tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun Banchi Hanuse
French-Language Feature Film Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant) Ariane Louis-Seize
Inspiring Voices and Perspectives Close to You Dominic Savage
Outstanding Short Film I Promise You Paradise (Paradis) Morad Mostafa
Outstanding Animated Short Film Return to Hairy Hill (Retour à Hairy Hill) Daniel Gies
Outstanding Northern Ontario Short Film Walter's Room Austin Lindsay

Official selections

Gala Presentations

English title Original title Director(s) Production country
The Boy in the Woods Rebecca Snow Canada
La Chimera Alice Rohrwacher Italy, France, Switzerland
Close to You Dominic Savage Canada, United Kingdom
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant Ariane Louis-Seize Canada
My Mother's Men Les Hommes de ma mère Anik Jean Canada
The Old Oak Ken Loach United Kingdom, France, Belgium
Swan Song Chelsea McMullan Canada
Sweetland Christian Sparkes Canada
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry Hettie Macdonald United Kingdom

Special Presentations

English title Original title Director(s) Production country
Anatomy of a Fall Anatomie d'un chute Justine Triet France
Days of Happiness Les Jours heureux Chloé Robichaud Canada
A Difficult Year Une année difficile Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache France
Fitting In Molly McGlynn Canada
The King Tide Christian Sparkes Canada
Monster Kaibutsu Hirokazu Kore-eda Japan
Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe Robert McCallum Canada
My Animal Jacqueline Castel Canada
One Summer Le Temps d'un été Louise Archambault Canada
Rose Niels Arden Oplev Denmark, France
Perfect Days Wim Wenders Japan, Germany
The Pot-au-Feu La Passion de Dodin Bouffant Tran Anh Hung France
The Promised Land Bastarden Nikolaj Arcel Denmark
The Royal Hotel Kitty Green Australia
Seven Veils Atom Egoyan Canada
The Teachers' Lounge Das Lehrerzimmer Ilker Çatak Germany
They Shot the Piano Player Dispararon al pianista Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal Spain, France, Netherlands
Warrior Strong Shane Belcourt Canada

Features Canada

English title Original title Director(s) Production country
Backspot D. W. Waterson Canada
Better Days Joan Carr-Wiggin Canada
Daniel's Gotta Die Jeremy Lalonde Canada
Echo to Delta Écho à Delta Patrick Boivin Canada
Hailey Rose Sandi Somers Canada
I Used to Be Funny Ally Pankiw Canada
I Will Not Starve Non morirò di fame Umberto Spinazzola Canada, Italy
Little Jesus Petit Jésus Julien Rigoulot Canada, France
Niagara Guillaume Lambert Canada
Orah Lonzo Nzekwe Canada
A Respectable Woman Une femme respectable Bernard Émond Canada
Richelieu Pier-Philippe Chevigny Canada
Rodeo Rodéo Joëlle Desjardins Paquette Canada
Seagrass Meredith Hama-Brown Canada
Suze Dane Clark, Linsey Stewart Canada
Who's Yer Father? Jeremy Larter Canada

Documentaries

English title Original title Director(s) Production country
Adaptation Jake Thomas Canada
Another Body Sophie Compton, Reuben Hamlyn United States
The Last Stop: Canada's Lost Locomotive Kaio Kathriner Canada
The Lebanese Burger Mafia Omar Mouallem Canada
On the Adamant Sur l'Adamant Nicolas Philibert France, Japan
Rule of Two Walls David Gutnik Ukraine
Smoke Sauna Sisterhood Savvusanna sõsarad Anna Hints Estonia, France, Iceland
Subterranean Francois-Xavier "Fix" De Ruydts Canada
Total Trust Jialing Zhang Germany, Netherlands
We Dare to Dream Waad al-Kateab United Kingdom

World Cinema

English title Original title Director(s) Production country
Aliens Abducted My Parents and Now I Feel Kinda Left Out Jake Van Wagoner United States
The Book of Solutions Le Livre des solutions Michel Gondry France
The Crossing La Traversée Florence Miailhe France, Czech Republic, Germany
Fallen Leaves Kuolleet lehdet Aki Kaurismäki Finland, Germany
Fathers and Mothers Fædre & mødre Paprika Steen Denmark
How to Have Sex Molly Manning Walker United Kingdom
Kidnapped Rapito Marco Bellocchio Italy, France, Germany
Minore Konstantinos Koutsoliotas United Kingdom, Greece
The Persian Version Maryam Keshavarz United States
Raging Grace Paris Zarcilla United Kingdom
Robot Dreams Pablo Berger Spain, France
Sleep 잠 Jason Yu South Korea
Sometimes I Think About Dying Rachel Lambert United States
Vincent Must Die Vincent doit mourir Stéphan Castang France, Belgium

In Full View: Crisis, Conflict, Conscience

English title Original title Director(s) Production country
Irena's Vow Louise Archambault Canada
Praying for Armageddon Tonje Hessen Schei, Michael Rowley Norway
Red Rooms Les Chambres rouges Pascal Plante Canada

Cinema Indigenized (Nishnaabek Dbaajmawaat)

English title Original title Director(s) Production country
Aitamaako'tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun Banchi Hanuse Canada
Broken Angel MaaShwaKan MaNiTo Jules Arita Koostachin Canada
Café Daughter Shelley Niro Canada
Frybread Face and Me Billy Luther United States
Hey, Viktor! Cody Lightning Canada

Cinema 9 Prime Time

English title Original title Director(s) Production country
Daughter of the Sun Ryan Ward Canada
Leilani's Fortune Loveleen Kaur Canada
Satan Wants You Sean Horlor, Steve J. Adams Canada

Late Night Frights

English title Original title Director(s) Production country
Purgatory Jack Brett M. Butler, Jason G. Butler Canada

Regular short film program

English title Original title Director(s) Production country
Aves Eli Snyder United States
Awakening: The First Day Jos Diaz Contreras, Santiago Carrasquilla United States
Bang Bang Piotr Skowronski Canada
Boat People Thao Lam, Kjell Boersma Canada
Death to the Bikini! À mort le bikini! Justine Gauthier Canada
Echoes Échos Sophie B. Jacque Canada
The Girl with the Red Beret Janet Perlman Canada
Harvey Janice Nadeau Canada
Hello to Me in 100 Years Wu-Ching Chang Taiwan
I Promise You Paradise Paradis Morad Mostafa France, Egypt, Qatar
IF Didier Charette Canada
Invincible Vincent René-Lortie Canada
The Late Set Bren Patrick Burke Canada
Lingering Pieces Jacqueline Lamb Canada
Mrs. Iran's Husband Marjan Khosravi Iran
Our Males and Females Ahmad Alyaseer Jordan
Portrait of a Cowboy Devon Wycoff United States
Return to Hairy Hill Retour à Hairy Hill Daniel Gies Canada
The Riley Sisters Julia Jackman United Kingdom
Stripper Anthony Sneed Canada
Two Apples Bahram Javahery Canada
Until You Die Jusqu’à ce que tu meures Florence Lafond Canada
Walter's Room Austin Lindsay Canada
Yellow Dove Aftermath Rony A. Abovitz United States
Zeb's Spider Sophie Jarvis Canada

CTV Best in Shorts

The festival's dedicated competition for amateur short filmmakers from Northeastern Ontario.[5]

English title Original title Director(s) Community
A Bunch of Junk Ian Johnson Lively
Go On and Bleed J. Christian Hamilton Sudbury
I Know I Can Fly Matt Steeves Temagami
Jerry Rigged Derek Diorio North Bay
L'Orbit Thomas Walton Timmins
My Authentic Self (A Journey with Art and Autism) Stéphane Ostrander Dowling
Walter’s Room Austin Lindsay North Bay
When Little Johnny Sleeps Sabrina Wilson Sudbury

References

  1. ^ Clement Goh, "Cinéfest Sudbury marks 35 years with focus on comedy and vampires". CBC Northern Ontario, August 23, 2023.
  2. ^ "Cinéfest 2023 returning to fully in-person format". Sudbury.com, July 28, 2023.
  3. ^ Jim Moodie, "Sudbury's Cinefest festival experiencing a surge of interest". Sudbury Star, September 15, 2023.
  4. ^ "Cinéfest reveals 2023 award winners". Sudbury.com, September 28, 2023.
  5. ^ "Northern Ont. filmmakers showcasing shorts at Cinéfest". Sudbury.com, September 14, 2023.