| Opening film | Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life by Dan Covert |
|---|---|
| Closing film | Hey, Viktor! by Cody Lightning |
| Location | Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Festival date | September 21–October 1, 2023 |
| Website | ciffcalgary |
The 2023 edition of the Calgary International Film Festival , the 24th edition in the event's history, took place from September 21 to October 1, 2023 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. [1]
The festival opened with Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life, a documentary film by Dan Covert about Calgary-born artist Geoff McFetridge, and closed with Cody Lightning's comedy film Hey, Viktor! . [2]
In 2023, the festival introduced a new CA$5,000 juried prize for Best Canadian Narrative Feature sponsored by Air Canada, as a complement to its existing RBC Emerging Artist Award for first-time Canadian filmmakers. New filmmakers remained eligible for the RBC Award, while Canadian films by more established directors were eligible for the Air Canada award. [3]
Juried award winners were announced on September 25, [4] with audience-voted award winners announced at the conclusion of the festival. [5]
| Award | Film | Filmmaker |
|---|---|---|
| Audience Choice Alberta Feature | Tales from the Rez | Colin Ahnahktsipiitaa Van Loon, Trevor Solway |
| Audience Choice Canadian Narrative Feature | Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant) | Ariane Louis-Seize |
| Audience Choice Canadian Documentary Feature | Summer Qamp | Jen Markowitz |
| Audience Choice International Narrative Feature | The Persian Version | Maryam Keshavarz |
| Audience Choice International Documentary Feature | Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life | Dan Covert |
| Audience Choice Late Shift | The Puppetman | Brandon Christensen |
| Audience Choice Generation Next | Aitamaako'tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun | Banchi Hanuse |
| Audience Choice Music on Screen | Immediate Family | Denny Tedesco |
| Audience Choice Special Presentations | The Old Oak | Ken Loach |
| Audience Choice Alberta Short | MONSTR | Tank Standing Buffalo |
| Audience Choice Narrative Short | Dead Cat (Chat mort) | Annie-Claude Caron, Danick Audet |
| Audience Choice Animated Short | Ninety-Five Senses | Jerusha Hess, Jared Hess |
| Audience Choice Documentary Short | Jack and Sam | Jordan Matthew Horowitz |
| Air Canada Canadian Narrative Feature | Suze | Dane Clark, Linsey Stewart |
| Air Canada Canadian Narrative Feature, Special Jury Citation | Charlie Gillespie (performance) | |
| RBC Emerging Canadian Artist | Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant) | Ariane Louis-Seize |
| RBC Emerging Canadian Artist, Special Jury Citation | Asog | Seán Devlin |
| Hey, Viktor! | Cody Lightning | |
| DGC Canadian Documentary Feature | Swan Song | Chelsea McMullan |
| DGC Canadian Documentary Feature, Special Jury Citation | Summer Qamp | Jen Markowitz |
| International Narrative Feature | Animalia (Parmi nous) | Sofia Alaoui |
| International Narrative Feature, Special Jury Citation | Close to You | Elliot Page (performance) |
| 20,000 Species of Bees (20.000 especies de abejas) | Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (direction) | |
| International Documentary Feature | Between the Rains | Moses Thuranira, Andrew H. Brown |
| Short Film Grand Jury Prize | Palm Sunday | Wes Andre Goodrich |
| Devon Bolton Memorial Award | MONSTR | Tank Standing Buffalo |
| Youth by Youth Canada Short Film Award | Operation Carl | Sandra Hurd |
| Live Action Short Film | Death to the Bikini! (À mort le bikini!) | Justine Gauthier |
| Animated Short Film | Boat People | Thao Lam, Kjell Boersma |
| Documentary Short Film | The Last Repair Shop | Ben Proudfoot, Kris Bowers |
| Student Short Film | Simone | Aisha Amin |
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asog | Seán Devlin | Canada | |
| Fitting In | Molly McGlynn | ||
| Float | Sherren Lee | ||
| Hey, Viktor! | Cody Lightning | ||
| Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant | Ariane Louis-Seize | |
| I Don't Know Who You Are | M. H. Murray | ||
| I Used to Be Funny | Ally Pankiw | ||
| In Flames | Zarrar Kahn | ||
| My Animal | Jacqueline Castel | ||
| The Queen of My Dreams | Fawzia Mirza | ||
| Red Rooms | Les Chambres rouges | Pascal Plante | |
| Richelieu | Pier-Philippe Chevigny | ||
| Solo | Sophie Dupuis | ||
| Suze | Dane Clark, Linsey Stewart | ||
| Wild Goat Surf | Caitlyn Sponheimer | ||
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aitamaako'tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun | Banchi Hanuse | Canada | |
| Close the Divide | Tom Acton | ||
| Cover Your Ears | Sean Patrick Shaul | ||
| Cynara | Sherien Barsoum | ||
| I Lost My Mom | J'ai placé ma mère | Denys Desjardins | |
| I'm Just Here for the Riot | Kathleen Jayme, Asia Youngman | ||
| Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe | Robert McCallum | ||
| Subterranean | Francois-Xavier De Ruydts | ||
| Summer Qamp | Jen Markowitz | ||
| Swan Song | Chelsea McMullan | ||
| Unsyncable | Megan Wennberg | ||
| We Will Be Brave | Chrisann Hessing | ||
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20,000 Species of Bees | 20.000 especies de abejas | Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren | Spain |
| Animalia | Parmi nous | Sofia Alaoui | Morocco, France, Qatar |
| Benji's Hour | Gabriel Kahane | United States | |
| Blaga's Lessons | Urotcite na Blaga | Stefan Komanderev | Bulgaria, Germany |
| Close to You | Dominic Savage | Canada, United Kingdom | |
| Elaha | Milena Aboyan | Germany | |
| Martínez | Lorena Padilla | Mexico | |
| The Mattachine Family | Andy Vallentine | United States | |
| The Other Widow | הפילגש | Maayan Rypp | France, Israel |
| The Persian Version | Maryam Keshavarz | Turkey, United States | |
| Riley | Benjamin Howard | United States | |
| Tótem | Lila Avilés | Mexico, Denmark, France | |
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Between the Rains | Moses Thuranira, Andrew H. Brown | Kenya, United Kingdom | |
| Break the Game | Jane M. Wagner | United States | |
| Fantastic Machine | Axel Danielson, Maximilien Van Aertryck | Denmark, Sweden | |
| Four Daughters | بنات ألفة | Kaouther Ben Hania | France, Tunisia, Germany, Saudi Arabia |
| Going Varsity in Mariachi | Alejandra Vasquez, Sam Osborn | United States | |
| Great Photo, Lovely Life | Amanda Mustard, Rachel Beth Anderson | United States | |
| Jesszilla | Emily Sheskin | United States | |
| On the Adamant | Sur l'Adamant | Nicolas Philibert | France, Japan |
| Silver Dollar Road | Raoul Peck | United States | |
| Smoke Sauna Sisterhood | Savvusanna sõsarad | Anna Hints | Estonia, France, Iceland |
| Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer | Thomas von Steinaecker | Germany, United Kingdom | |
| You Can Call Me Bill | Alexandre O. Philippe | United States | |
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|---|
| About Dry Grasses | Kuru Otlar Üstüne | Nuri Bilge Ceylan | Turkey, France, Germany, Sweden |
| Anatomy of a Fall | Anatomie d'une chute | Justine Triet | France |
| The Animal Kingdom | Le Règne animal | Thomas Cailley | France |
| Big Boys | Corey Sherman | United States | |
| La Chimera | Alice Rohrwacher | Italy, France, Switzerland | |
| The Delinquents | Los delincuentes | Rodrigo Moreno | Argentina, Brazil, Luxembourg, Chile |
| A Difficult Year | Une année difficile | Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache | France |
| Drop | Ramin Eshraghi-Yazdi | Canada | |
| Dumb Money | Craig Gillespie | United States | |
| Evil Does Not Exist | 悪は存在しない | Ryûsuke Hamaguchi | Japan |
| Fallen Leaves | Kuolleet lehdet | Aki Kaurismäki | Finland, Germany |
| Faultline | Anna Cooley | Canada | |
| Hailey Rose | Sandi Somers | Canada | |
| How to Have Sex | Molly Manning Walker | United Kingdom | |
| How We Ended Us | Grant Harvey | Canada | |
| If Only I Could Hibernate | Баавгай болохсон, Baavgai Bolohson | Zoljargal Purevdash | Mongolia |
| Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell | Bên trong vỏ kén vàng | Phạm Thiên Ân | Vietnam, Singapore, France, Spain |
| Isle of Hope | Damian Romay | United States | |
| Jericho Ridge | Will Gilbey | United Kingdom | |
| Kidnapped | Rapito | Marco Bellocchio | Italy, France, Germany |
| Little Brother | Sheridan O'Donnell | United States | |
| A Little Prayer | Angus MacLachlan | United States | |
| Mayhem | Farang | Xavier Gens | France, Thailand |
| Monster | 怪物 | Hirokazu Kore-eda | Japan |
| The Old Oak | Ken Loach | United Kingdom, France, Belgium | |
| Peak Season | Steven Kanter, Henry Loevner | United States | |
| 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, Germany, Sweden |
| The Puppetman | Brandon Christensen | United States | |
| Robot Dreams | Pablo Berger | Spain, France | |
| Romi | Robert Cuffley | Canada | |
| The Royal Hotel | Kitty Green | Australia, United Kingdom | |
| The Sacrifice Game | Jenn Wexler | United States | |
| Seven Veils | Atom Egoyan | Canada | |
| Sleep | 잠 | Jason Yu | South Korea |
| The Teachers' Lounge | Das Lehrerzimmer | Ilker Çatak | Germany |
| The Ties That Bind | James Reckseidler | Canada | |
| Tótem | Lila Avilés | Mexico, Denmark, France | |
| Vincent Must Die | Vincent doit mourir | Stéphan Castang | France, Belgium |
| When Evil Lurks | Cuando acecha la maldad | Demián Rugna | Argentina |
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anselm | Anselm – Das Rauschen der Zeit | Wim Wenders | Germany |
| Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life | Dan Covert | United States | |
| Immediate Family | Denny Tedesco | United States | |
| Joan Baez: I Am a Noise | Miri Navasky, Maeve O'Boyle, Karen O'Connor | United States | |
| Kiss the Future | Nenad Cicin-Sain | Bosnia and Herzegovina, United States, Ireland | |
| The Lebanese Burger Mafia | Omar Mouallem | Canada | |
| Patria y Vida: The Power of Music | Beatriz Luengo | Spain | |
| They Shot the Piano Player | Dispararon al pianista | Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal | Spain, France, Netherlands |
| The Stones & Brian Jones | Nick Broomfield | United Kingdom | |
| Without Leaving Anyone Behind | Sylvester Ndumbi | Canada | |
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tales from the Rez | Trevor Solway, Colin Ahnahktsipiitaa Van Loon | Canada | |
| Telling Our Story | Kim O'Bomsawin | Canada | |
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | Flóra Anna Buda | France, Hungary | |
| 6 Minutes per Kilometre | 6 minutes/km | Catherine Boivin | Canada |
| At Last | Resmiye Emir | Turkey | |
| Basri & Salma in a Never-Ending Comedy | Basri & Salma Dalam Komedi Yang Terus Berputar | Khozy Rizal | Indonesia |
| Beauty Visa | Kate He, Simeon Hu | United States | |
| Between Earth & Sky | Andrew Nadkarni | United States | |
| Blond Night | Nuit blonde | Gabrielle Demers | Canada |
| Boat People | Thao Lam, Kjell Boersma | Canada | |
| The Breakthrough | Daniel Sinclair | United States | |
| Calf | Jamie O'Rourke | Ireland | |
| Catherine & Michael | Kathy Fusco | United States | |
| Chemical Somnia | Scott Portingale | Canada | |
| Christopher at Sea | Tom CJ Brown | France | |
| Closing Dynasty | Lloyd Lee Choi | United States | |
| Coaching While Black | Alex Eskandarkhah | Canada | |
| Coddle No More | Nicholas Bentgen | United States | |
| Conviction | Bruce Thomas Miller | Canada | |
| Counter Clockwise | Roman Shipley | Canada | |
| Dead Cat | Chat mort | Annie-Claude Caron, Danick Audet | Canada |
| Death & Ramen | Tiger Ji | United States | |
| Death to the Bikini! | À mort le bikini! | Justine Gauthier | Canada |
| Detour | Kargo Chen | Hong Kong | |
| Dicks That I Like | Johanna Gustin | Germany | |
| Don't Come In...Yet | Isaac Elliott | Australia | |
| Eeva | Lucija Mrzljak, Morten Tšinakov | Croatia, Estonia | |
| The Family Portrait | Lea Vidakovic | Croatia, France, Serbia | |
| The Firefighter's Ball | Le Bal des pompoers | Baptiste Drapeau | France |
| Fishmonger | Neil Ferron | United States | |
| The Gateway | Kamala Parel-Nuttall | Canada | |
| The Girl with the Red Beret | Janet Perlman | Canada | |
| Go for Gold | John Torres | Canada | |
| Grill | Jade Hærem Aksnes | Norway | |
| Hide Your Crazy | Austin Kase | United States | |
| High End Dying | Helen Liu | Canada | |
| Hiraeth | Emma McDonald | Canada | |
| Hit Man: Secrets of Lies | Elias Plagianos | United States | |
| Hooks | Les crochets | Charles Parisé | Canada |
| Human Resources | Ressources humaines | Trinidad Plass, Titouan Tillier, Isaac Wenzek | France |
| I Have No Tears and I Must Cry | Luis Fernando Puente | United States | |
| In the Heat | Sam Chou | Canada | |
| It's a Date | Nadia Parfan | Ukraine | |
| Jack and Sam | Jordan Matthew Horowitz | United States | |
| Jinn Julian | Jae Sterling | Canada | |
| The Key to the Heart of Time | MJ Hansen | Canada | |
| A Kind of Testament | Stephen Vuillemin | France | |
| Kolaj | Gülce Besen Dilek | Germany | |
| Konpa | Al'Ikens Plancher | United States | |
| Lo-Tech Reality | Guillermo Garcia Lopez | Spain | |
| Losing Blue | Leanne Allison | Canada | |
| Making Money in Manitou, Manitoba | Austin Ladouceur | Canada | |
| Mine | Esabella Strickland | Canada | |
| Monstr | Tank Standing Buffalo | Canada | |
| My Eyes Are Up Here | Nathan Morris | United Kingdom | |
| Mystic Tiger | Marc Martínez Jordán | Spain | |
| Nai Nai & Wai Po: Grandma & Grandma | Sean Wang | United States | |
| Nian | Michelle Krusiec | United States | |
| Ninety-Five Senses | Jerusha Hess, Jared Hess | United States | |
| No More Kîyâm | Lese Skidmore | Canada | |
| Noodles Forever | McKinley Carlin | United States | |
| Okem | Joshua Okwuosa | Nigeria, United States | |
| Old Dragon Man | Douglas Cook | Canada | |
| Only You | James David Duric | Canada | |
| Operation Carl | Sandra Rachel Hurd | Canada | |
| The Orchestra Chuck Built | Christopher Stoudt | United States | |
| Overtime | Jenny Lee-Gilmore | Canada | |
| Pacific Bell | Sandrine Béchade | Canada | |
| Palm Sunday | Wes Andre Goodrich | United States | |
| Piece by Piece | Reza Rasouli | Austria | |
| Poof | Margaret Miller | United States | |
| Power Signal | Oscar Boyson | United States | |
| Pussy Love | Linda Krauss | Germany | |
| Rise of Afrobeats in the Prairies | Fahad Suleiman | Canada | |
| Salopica | Serenella Sol, Callum McCormack | Canada | |
| Shadow Brother Sunday | Alden Ehrenreich | United States | |
| Simone | Aisha Amin | United States | |
| Soleil de nuit | Fernando Lopez Escriva, Maria Camila Arias | Canada | |
| The Soup | John Torres | Canada | |
| The Sperm Bank | Margaux Susi | United States | |
| Suzy Makes Cupcakes | Jayson Therrien | Canada | |
| The Syrian Cosmonaut | Charles Emir Richards | Turkey | |
| Third Wheel | Kevin Haefelin | Japan, Switzerland | |
| Tiny | Ritchie Hemphill, Ryan Haché | Canada | |
| Two One Two | Shira Avni | Quebec | |
| Unveiled Traditions | Lili Yas Tayefi | Canada | |
| Wave Rider | Dustin Chok | Canada | |
| Well Wishes My Love, Your Love | Gabriel Gabriel Garble | Malaysia, Sweden | |
| White Ant | Shalini Adnani | India, United Kingdom | |
| Yellowbird | Tsvetelina Zdraveva, Jerred North | United States | |
| Zip | Ava Maria Safai | Canada | |
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heartland Special gala screening of episode #250 | Dean Bennett | Canada | |
| How to Fail as a Popstar with Q&A and musical performance by Vivek Shraya | Vanessa Matsui | Canada | |
| The Hunchback of Notre Dame with new live score by Chad VanGaalen | Wallace Worsley | United States | |
| Smoke Signals retrospective screening linked to competition title Hey, Viktor! | Chris Eyre | United States | |