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
