2023 Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival
| Opening film | Rose by Niels Arden Oplev |
|---|---|
| Closing film | Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person by Ariane Louis-Seize |
| Location | Sudbury, Ontario, Canada |
| Founded | 1989 |
| Festival date | September 16–24, 2023 |
| Website | cinefest |
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[edit]
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[edit]
Gala Presentations[edit]
| 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[edit]
| 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[edit]
| 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[edit]
| 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[edit]
| 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[edit]
| 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)[edit]
| 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[edit]
| 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[edit]
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purgatory Jack | Brett M. Butler, Jason G. Butler | Canada | |
Regular short film program[edit]
| 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[edit]
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[edit]
- ^ Clement Goh, "Cinéfest Sudbury marks 35 years with focus on comedy and vampires". CBC Northern Ontario, August 23, 2023.
- ^ "Cinéfest 2023 returning to fully in-person format". Sudbury.com, July 28, 2023.
- ^ Jim Moodie, "Sudbury's Cinefest festival experiencing a surge of interest". Sudbury Star, September 15, 2023.
- ^ "Cinéfest reveals 2023 award winners". Sudbury.com, September 28, 2023.
- ^ "Northern Ont. filmmakers showcasing shorts at Cinéfest". Sudbury.com, September 14, 2023.