The prizes awarded by the professional jury include the Grand Prize, the Canadian Grand Prize, the Jury Prize, the Best animation short film, the Best documentary short film.
Anne-Marie Cadieux
Actress
Anne-Marie is acclaimed for her acting in Quebec and internationally due to her active career in theatre, film and television. In the theatre, she has worked with high-profile directors such as Robert Lepage, Brigitte Haentjens, Serge Denoncourt, Dominic Champagne and Lorraine Pintal. Her many film credits include a noteworthy debut in Le confessionnal, followed by Nô, both directed by Robert Lepage. She went on to appear Le coeur au poing by Charles Binamé, Le génie du crime by Louis Bélanger, How My Mother Gave Birth to Me During Menopause by Sébastien Rose, Maman Last Call by François Bouvier, Far Side of the Moon by Robert Lepage and Le bonheur, c’est une chanson triste and Toi (You) by François Delisle. She also played supporting roles in The Trotsky and Good Neighbours by Jacob Tierney, Voyez comme ils dansent by Claude Miller, Endorphine by André Turpin, Matthias & Maxime by Xavier Dolan, and more recently in Les douze travaux d’Imelda (The 12 Tasks of Imelda), Les hommes de ma mère (My Mother’s Men), Solo and Anna Kiri Superstar. Praised by critics and audiences alike, she has won numerous prestigious honours, attesting to her talent and her commitment to Quebec’s arts scene.
Kathleen McInnis
Programmer, publicist and producer
Member of The Academy (AMPAS), the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), Independent Documentary Association (IDA), Film Independent, and WGA-w, Kathleen has over three decades experience as Publicist, Producer and Festival Programmer/Director. She began her festival career at the Seattle Int’l Film Festival as Senior Programmer before going to Palm Springs ShortFest as Film Curator and then Festival Director. She shaped the first-ever international section of ShortCuts at TIFF; programmed international shorts at Hot Docs, and served as Artistic Director of Aspen ShortsFest. She has consulted with Tribeca short film programming and currently consults with Kortfilmfestivalen (Norway) as industry liaison. Kathleen also created and curates the unique SIFF’s New Works-in-Progress Forum.
As Co-Producer / Producer, her recent films include Retablo (Peru), Fantastic Machine (Sweden), Birdhouse (Netherlands) as well as End of the Road (Serbia). As publicist, she helps emerging filmmakers merge their creative and business development at festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Toronto.
Nishina Loft
Programmer and multi-disciplinary artist
Nishina Shapwaykeesic-Loft is a Kanien’kehá:ka woman from Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. She is a 2S queer, multi-disciplinary artist working in a wide spectrum of mediums. She has a Bachelor of Fine Arts with Honours from York University in Theatre Production and Design. She currently works as the Lead Programmer for the Toronto Queer Film Festival and also as the Print Traffic Coordinator at ImagineNative Media + Arts Festival. Working in the theater industry, Shapwaykeesic-Loft has a specialization in costuming. In addition to work as an indigenous consultant for multiple projects, she is an Artist in Residence at Relative Arts in New York City, and also works as a mural artist with the RUN Collective.
Pier-Philippe Chevigny
Filmmaker
Pier-Philippe Chevigny is a filmmaker from Montreal, Quebec. His films combine anxiety-inducing camerawork and suspenseful scripts based on contemporary social issues. His short films Tala, Vétérane and Rebel were selected at over 200 festivals worldwide. His first feature Richelieu world premiered in the international competition at the 2023 Tribeca Festival and was selected at dozens of festivals including Karlovy Vary, Fantasia, Palm Springs and Namur where it won the prestigious Bayard for Best First Feature. In 2024, he is set to return to the short film world with a new project titled Mercenaire. He is currently wrapping up development on his follow-up feature.
Théodore Ushev
Filmmaker
Born in Kyustendil, Bulgaria, Theodore Ushev first made a name for himself as a poster artist in his native country before settling in Montreal in 1999. In Montreal, Ushev worked in the multimedia industry and then found fruitful creative soil at the National Film Board of Canada, where he has made more than 10 films to date, including Lipsett Diaries (2010), about the tortured life and art of the acclaimed experimental filmmaker, and the Academy Award®-nominated short Blind Vaysha (2016). Ushev’s films have won more than 170 awards and mentions and have screened in many retrospectives. The Physics of Sorrow (2019), adapted from the book by Georgi Gospodinov, a compelling and personal portrait of rootlessness and identity, is Ushev’s latest project, and his most ambitious work to date.
In 2021, Ushev completed his first fiction feature film, Phi 1.618.
The jury of the Focus Competition awards the 5 prizes related to the 5 sections of this competition : Shoot No Matter What, 100% Regions, Americana, Short & Queer and Indigenous Perspectives
Alisi Telengut
Artist and animation filmmaker
Alisi is a Canadian artist of Mongolian roots and an award-winning animation filmmaker. Telengut's work has been screened and exhibited internationally, such as at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures (USA), Sundance Film Festival (USA), TIFF (Canada), Annecy International Animation Festival (France), Biennial VIDEONALE at Kunstmuseum Bonn - Museum of Painting and Contemporary Art Bonn (Germany), OSTRALE Biennale (Germany), Anthology Film Archives (USA), CICA Museum - Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (South Korea), UNESCO World Heritage Site Zollverein (Germany), Images Festival (Canada), Image Forum (Japan). Alisi is a Canadian Screen Award nominee and a Québec Cinéma Awards - Prix Iris winner in Best Animated Film. Her work received multiple international awards and nominations, including the Best Short Film at Stockholm Film Festival (Sweden), Best Animated Film at Mammoth Lakes Film Festival (USA) and Brussel Independent Film Festival (Belgium), as well as the Jury Award at the Aspen Shortsfest (USA).
Julie Groleau
Producer
Julie Groleau has been a film producer for over 15 years. In 2012, she co-founded the company Couronne Nord and embarked on an impressive career by winning the Best Short Film award at the Toronto International Film Festival for Overpass (Patrice Laliberté, 2015). She also serves as an executive producer for the short film Crème de menthe (Jean-Marc E. Roy & Philippe-David Gagné), which premiered at the Directors' Fortnight of the Cannes Film Festival in 2017. Additionally, she worked as a production manager on Fauve (Jérémy Comte, 2018), which was nominated for Best Live Action - Short Film at the Oscars. In 2020, Julie Groleau added to her already impressive portfolio the production of The Decline (Patrice Laliberté), the very first Quebec feature film funded by Netflix. In 2023, she participated in the prestigious EAVE Producers Workshops program, further establishing her presence on the international stage. She is currently developing the first feature film of Nicolas Krief, The Prince.
Maxime Robin
Writer, director, actor and filmmaker
Maxime is a writer, director and actor who studied at Concordia University’s Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema and at the Conservatoire d’art dramatique de Québec. Since 2011, when he launched his artistic career, he has divided his time between film, theatre and storytelling. He is the founder and co-artistic director of La Vierge folle. He is also the co-artistic director of Théâtre des Confettis and an interim member of the programming committee for the Carrefour international de Théâtre de Québec.
He wrote and directed Iphigénie en auto, Viande, Photosensibles, Lou dans la nuit and all 12 instalments of Contes à passer le temps, as well as co-writing La Date and Le NoShow. He designed one of the tableaux for the mobile performance Où tu vas quand tu dors en marchant, and directed La Chatte sur un toit brûlant (an adaptation of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof) at Théâtre de la Bordée and Hosanna ou La Shéhérazade des pauvres by Michel Tremblay.
His film credits include writing and directing the short films Ballet Jazz, based on a work by Simon Boulerice, and La Main gauche, which earned several festival awards. His series of short films Meilleur avant, available on the TV5 and Télé-Québec websites, has also won several honours. Maxime is passionate about images and fascinated by the power of imagination; he strives to create accessible, entertaining and disquieting works with the aim of better understanding the human condition and bringing enchantment to life.
Miguel Dias
Director and programmer of Curtas Vila do Conde Festival
Born in Porto in 1966. Graduated in graphic design in Porto Fine Arts School. In 1993 founded Curtas Vila do Conde - International Film Festival, where is currently director and programmer. Director of Agência - Portuguese Short Film Agency, for the promotion, sales and international distribution of Portuguese short films. Producer of several short films. Curator of short films and Portuguese contemporary cinema retrospectives and film events. Programmer for the Short Film Day in Portugal. Producer in the film department of Porto 2001 – European Capital of Culture, including production of films and the launching of the international documentary and new media festival Odisseia Nas Imagens.
Sheenah Ko
Music producer and composer
Sheenah is an Irish-Chinese producer and composer based in Saguenay. She boasts over a decade of experience performing with many bands such as The Besnard Lakes, Bedouin Soundclash, and Kevin Hearn (Barenaked Ladies). As a solo artist, she now focuses on producing her own albums, merging her skills in analog synthesizers, vocals and beat production. With her debut album 'Nowhere In Time in 2020,’ Ko dove into the spotlight, being part of the Top 10 on the NCRA Canadian Campus Radio Electronic charts. The music video for her single 'Wrap Me Up' got awarded for Best Choreography at UK Music Video Awards, then a nomination for Music Video of the Year at the 2021 Juno Awards. Her second album, 'Future Is Now,' was accompanied by 7 visually stunning music videos, which two of them received award nominations, and the album itself was awarded Pop Album of the Year at the 2023 GAMIQ (Quebec Independent Music) awards. In 2024, Ko will release her latest endeavor: a completely bilingual French-English album co-produced with Félix Petit (Hubert Lenoir), where she sets out to shatter conventions and create an even more energetic and distinctive musical masterpiece.
The AQCC Critics Jury is back for a seventh year to award the Quebec Critics Award AQCC to a short film of its choice among the international films in the Official Competition.
Jules Couturier
Film critic
After a stint selling popcorn at Montreal’s Cinéma du Parc, Jules Couturier pivoted to journalism and became a contributor to a variety of media outlets, including the defunct Journal Métro. He is currently pursuing his career with the esteemed magazine L’Itinéraire. His passion for cinema remains as strong as ever, reflected in his work as a film critic for the Cinémaniak website and Séquences magazine, for which he has been writing for more than seven years.
Mathieu Bédard
Film critic
Mathieu Bédard holds a masters in film studies from Concordia University and is a critic for Séquences magazine. He has also been a translator in the independent film industry for more than five years. For many years he worked at the Montreal International Documentary Festival in the programming department and for the festival’s professional market. He is also the lyricist and singer for the theatrical punk band Saints Martyrs, which won the 2023 Prix Lucien for best self-produced music video.
Sarah-Louise Pelletier-Morin
Film critic
Sarah-Louise Pelletier-Morin is a doctoral candidate in literature at UQAM. Her master’s thesis examined the poetry of Michel Houellebecq, while her doctoral dissertation will focus on two controversial plays, SLÀV and Kanata (2018). She led the Mythologies québécoises (2021) collective and is on the editorial boards of the periodicals L’Inconvénient and Panorama-Cinéma. Her first poetry collection, Le marché aux fleurs coupées, was published this year by La Peuplade.
Consisting of three members, this jury will award a film amongst the Canadian shorts in the Official Competition with the International FIPRESCI critic’s award.
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Davide Abbatescianni
Film critic
Davide Abbatescianni (Bari, 1991) is a film critic and journalist based in Rome. After studying theatre, film and journalism between Italy, Estonia and Ireland, he began working as a reporter for Cineuropa in 2017. For the Brussels-based portal, he covers all the major festivals and markets and reviews new releases. His bylines have appeared on outlets such as Variety, The New Arab, New Scientist, Business Doc Europe, The National and Reader’s Digest UK. He is a member of FIPRESCI (International Federation of Film Critics) and the European Film Academy. He is a curator for the project Support to EU Film Festivals, implemented by Cineuropa, the Institut français and the Goethe-Institut. In 2021, he took part in the FIPRESCI Jury of the Annecy Film Festival, and in the Cineuropa Jury of the Sarajevo Film Festival.
Diego Faraone
Film critic
20 years of film criticism in Semanario Brecha and other publications such as Otros Cines, Dossier, El Boulevard, and Guía 50, among others. He has served as a jury at the festivals of Toronto (TIFF), Rotterdam (IFFR), Fantaspoa (Porto Alegre), Mar del Plata, BAFICI (Buenos Aires), BISFF (Bengaluru), and others. He is the author of the biography of the actor César Troncoso Oficio de alto riesgo published in 2020. He was selected by the Berlinale (Berlin Film Festival) among more than 100 applicants for the "Talent press" workshop, in February 2011.
He gave workshops on film analysis and criticism in the platform Locaciones Montevideanas at Montevideo Municipal Government; in the Mostra de Cinema Latinoamericano de Rio Grande (Brazil), as well as Punta del Este (Punta del Este film Festival) and Porto Alegre (Fantaspoa) Festivals. Since 2019 he has been part of the board of directors of ACCU (Association of Film Critics of Uruguay). In 2022 he is appointed president.
Rachel Ho
Film critic
Rachel Ho is a freelance film critic, editor, and writer based in Toronto, Canada. She is currently the film editor at Exclaim! Magazine and co-founder of The Asian Cut. Her work has been published in The Globe and Mail, CBC Arts, Slash Film, POV Magazine, eliteGen Magazine, among others. Rachel is a member of the Toronto Film Critics Association and won their Emerging Critic Award in 2021. She has also been an international voter for the Golden Globe Awards since 2022.
The Youth Competition Jury gives the Best youth short film award.
Chloé Varin
Author and presenter
Chloé Varin has written some 30 books, most of them for young readers. Before publishing her first novel in 2008 she was an actress, bookseller and literary columnist. She now dedicates herself to a wide range of ambitious writing projects, from illustrated books À qui la frite?, Blanche comme un drap to teen novels La théorie ratée de l’évolution, Casting, Planches d’enfer, Dali and comic books Vendredi 13, short stories Mystères à l’école, Oups! Mauvaise fenêtre and a podcast Rôties mystères. For 15 years she has been organizing classroom events from preschool to university, meeting around 4,000 students each year across Quebec and in francophone communities in the rest of Canada. Jules au pays d’Asha is her first literary adaptation of a cinematic work.
Lucie Lambert
Filmmaker
Lucie Lambert spent her childhood in Portneuf-sur-Mer, on Québec’s North Shore, between forest and sea. Following her studies in litterature, she developed a passion for a free-form genre of filmmaking, mixing experimental with documentary. In 1991, with partners Sylvain l’Espérance and Pierre Marier, Lucie formed the production company Les films du tricycle allowing her the freedom to work as she pleased. Her favourite themes, whether in her films Paysage sous les paupières, Avant le jour, Le père de Gracile or in her most recent work, touch on the relationships between women, men and children and the territory they inhabit. Poetry gives colour to all her films. She directed a children's film in 2020 Le grand châle d'Aamu and is currently working on an animated short, also for children.
Manon Musset
Editorial director at Benshi
After studying at the Institut national de l’Audiovisuel (INA), Manon worked at the Musée de l’Homme in Paris as a digital project leader and cultural mediator, then at the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animé (CNC), where she led the creation of an image-education toy for schools, as well as the national “École au cinéma” program. In 2019, Manon became the editorial director at Benshi, an independent platform for short and feature films for children ages 2 to 11. Her mission is to transport children through cinema by advising parents on film selection, maintaining the platform and cinema guide, and spearheading partnerships with festivals and movie theaters.