The
winners of the 2019 Inside Out LGBT Film Festival were announced yesterday
in Toronto at the annual awards ceremony where over $40,000 in prizes
were handed out to various LGBTQ filmmakers. Top honors went to Garin
Nugroho for MEMORIES OF MY BODY (Inside Out Special Award for
Innovation), Xiang Zi for A DOG BARKING AT THE MOON (Best First
Feature), Megan Wennberg for DRAG KIDS (Best Canadian Feature), Justine
Stevens for SOFT SPOT (Best Canadian Short) and Lysandre Cosse-Tremblay
for SKIES ARE NOT JUST BLUE (Emerging Canadian Artist).
The Audience Award winners included Samantha Lee’s BILLIE AND EMMA for
Best Narrative Feature, Linda Goldstein Knowlton’s WE ARE THE RADICAL
MONARCHS for Best Documentary Feature and Jamie Dispirito’s THRIVE for
Best Short Film.
The festival, which launched the first ever annual LGBTQ Finance Forum,
has become an international home and incubator for LGBT filmmakers, both
emerging and established. The 2019 Inside Out LGBT Film Festival ran
from May 23 to June 2 in Toronto at the TIFF Bell Lightbox and screened
153 films from 30 countries. The feature film program included 6 world
premieres, 6 international premieres and 14 Canadian premieres.
The festival was proud to announce the winner of its annual “Pitch,
Please” contest to director Rain Valdez for RE-LIVE: A TALE OF A
30-YEAR-OLD CHEERLEADER. The prize involves a cash production grant of
$5,000 sponsored by Netflix, as well as a $10,000 in-kind package
sponsored by Sim International, EP Canada, Bedtracks, Final Draft, Lewis
Brinberg Hanet and Behind The Scenes Services.
The full winners and awards are after the jump:
CANADIAN JURIED AWARDS
The jurors for the 2019 Canadian jury were Luis De Filippis, Lisa Donato and Nick McCarthy.
Best Canadian Feature - sponsored by Entertainment Partners Canada
DRAG KIDS - Director, Megan Wennberg
Emerging Canadian Artist - sponsored by RBC Royal Bank and William F. White International
SKIES ARE NOT JUST BLUE - Director, Lysandre Cosse-Tremblay
Best Canadian Short - Sponsored by Accenture
SOFT SPOT - Director, Justine Stevens
Honourable Mention
TERMINALLY IN LOVE - Directors, Emily Jenkins and Justin Black
INTERNATIONAL JURIED AWARDS
The jurors for the 2019 International jury were Tricia Hagoriles, Allison Tate and Curtis Wong.
Inside Out Special Award for Innovation - Funded through Inside Out’s Strategic Innovation Fund - $10,000 cash award
MEMORIES OF MY BODY - Director Garin Nugroho
Best First Feature - Sponsored by Netflix
A DOG BARKING AT THE MOON - Director Xiang Zi
AUDIENCE AWARDS
Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature - Sponsored by Suzy Zucker
BILLIE AND EMMA - Director, Samantha Lee
Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature - Sponsored by Jo-Ann Chiam
WE ARE THE RADICAL MONARCHS - Director, Linda Goldstein Knowlton
Audience Award for Best Short Film - Sponsored by Michael Leshner and Michael Stark
THRIVE - Director, Jamie Dispirito