about viff l 2009 Award Winners

The 28th annual Vancouver International Film Festival has wrapped its 16-day run. The winners of three juried awards and five audience awards were announced at the Closing Gala on Friday October 16, a fourth juried award was announced previously.   JURIED AWARDS
Canwest Award for Best Canadian Feature Film
		The jury for the Canadian Images program awarded the inaugural Canwest Award for Best Canadian Feature Film and its $20,000 cash prize to director Xavier Dolan of Montreal for I KILLED MY MOTHER (J'ai tué ma mere). The winner was selected from 19 films in competition. The jury included Vancouver-based actor, writer and director Ben Ratner; filmmaker Lynne Stopkewich, also of Vancouver; and producer/writer Kevin Tierney of Montreal. Robyn Rudolph of Global Television presented the award on behalf of Canwest.
Dragons & Tigers Award for Young Cinema
		The $10,000 Dragons & Tigers Award for Young Cinema, which is generously supported by donors by Brad Birarda and Robert Sali, went to JANG Kun-Jae of South Korea for EIGHTEEN. Presented to the director of a creative and innovative film from East Asia that has not yet won significant international recognition, the award was previously announced on October 8. The jury for the 2009 D&T award The distinguished jury was comprised of Mr. Johnny Ray HUSTON, arts and entertainment editor of the San Francisco Bay Guardian; Mr. IKEDA Hiroyuki, who has introduced experimental film to Asian audiences through Image Forum; and Mr. Noel VERA, who has contributed to Cinemaya, Cahiers du Cinema, the Hong Kong Film Festival, the Singapore Film Festival, programmed at Rotterdam, and written a screenplay and the book Critic After Dark: A Review of Philippine Cinema. They considered eight films in competition.
Most Promising Director of a Canadian Short Film
The Canadian Images jury has awarded a $2,000 cash award to directors Jan Binsse and David Tougas of Montreal for their film THE LAST ACT (Le dernier acte). The competition was open to first-time filmmakers. An anonymous donor contributed the cash prize. Canadian Images programmer Terry McEvoy announced the award.
Women in Film & Television Vancouver Artistic Merit Award
		Women in Film & Television Vancouver presented its Artistic Merit Award to Nimisha Mukerji, co-director, producer and editor and Gillian Lowry, co-producer, of 65_REDROSES. WIFTV vice-president Kate Green presented the award, which is given annually to a B.C. woman filmmaker or performer of distinction whose work appeared at VIFF this year.
AUDIENCE AWARDS
Rogers People's Choice Award
		The USA film SOUNDTRACK FOR A REVOLUTION, directed by Bill Guttentag and Dan Sturman, has won the Rogers People's Choice Award. All of the festival's 377 films – dramas and nonfiction, short mid- or feature length – were eligible and festivalgoers chose the most popular film by rating every film they saw on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). Thor Diakow presented the award on behalf of Rogers.
documentary Audience Award for Most Popular Nonfiction Film
		The audience chose the Canadian film FACING ALI for the second annual documentary Audience Award for most popular nonfiction film. Directed by Pete McCormack. The award is sponsored by CBC's digital channel documentary, and Steve Pratt, head of CBC Radio 3 and Digital Media, announced the winner. VIFF is the second-largest "documentary festival" in Canada, as nearly half of the festival's feature and mid-length films were nonfiction (103 nonfiction and 134 dramas).
VIFF Most Popular Canadian Film Award
		Nimisha Mukerji & Philip Lyall's 65_REDROSES has won the VIFF Most Popular Canadian Film Award. The award was announced by Canadian Images programmer Terry McEvoy.
National Film Board's Most Popular Canadian Documentary Award
		65_REDROSES, by filmmaker Nimisha Mukerji & Philip Lyall won the prize of $2,500 in NFB technical services towards his next film. The prize was presented by Tracey Friesen, executive producer, Pacific and Yukon Centre, National Film Board of Canada.
VIFF Environmental Film Audience Award
		At the Edge of the World, a documentary directed by Dan Stone has won the VIFF Environmental Film Audience Award. The award was announced by festival director Alan Franey.