The Borsos Competition is the main awards program for Canadian feature films screening at the annual Whistler Film Festival. [1] The award is named in memory of Canadian film director Phillip Borsos. [2]
Introduced for the first time in 2004, the juried competition presents six awards annually to honour films, actors, screenplays, directors, cinematographers and editors in Canadian cinema. Initially, only films that were having their world premieres at Whistler were eligible for the competition, [3] although this requirement was soon dropped as the festival had difficulty attracting entrants who were willing to forego larger film festivals such as TIFF or the FNC, and thereafter films selected for competition only had to be a regional premiere within the Western Canada region.
From the award's inauguration until 2015, six films were selected for competition each year, except in 2012 when eight films competed; in 2015, the festival dropped size limits, and since then the competition has typically included between 10 and 20 films per year.
The festival also presents several other awards, which are not part of the Borsos Competition.
| Year | Film | Director | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Little Orphans | Ruth Lawrence | [35] |
| All In Madonna | Arnold Lim | [36] | |
| An Introvert's Guide to High School | Sophie Harvey | ||
| Between Waves | Virginia Abramovich | ||
| The Corruption of Divine Providence | Jeremy Torrie | ||
| Goddess of the Fireflies (La déesse des mouches à feu) | Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette | ||
| In Her City | Carl Bessai | ||
| Indian Road Trip | Allan W. Hopkins | ||
| The Marina (La Marina) | Christophe Levac, Étienne Galloy | ||
| Mercy | Sam Flamont | ||
| Québexit | Joshua Demers | ||
| Still the Water | Susan Rodgers | ||
| Sugar Daddy | Wendy Morgan | ||
| Underground (Souterrain) | Sophie Dupuis | ||
| You Will Remember Me (Tu te souviendras de moi) | Éric Tessier | ||
| Craft awards: • Rémy Girard (You Will Remember Me), Best Performance • Sophie Dupuis (Underground), Best Director • Gail Maurice, Xavier Yuvens and Joshua Demers (Québexit), Best Screenplay • Fred Gervais-Dupuis (The Marina), Best Cinematography | [35] | ||
| 2021 | Cinema of Sleep | Jeffrey St. Jules | [37] |
| Altar Boy | Serville Poblete | [38] | |
| Carmen | Valerie Buhagiar | ||
| Confessions of a Hitman | Luc Picard | ||
| Dawn, Her Dad and the Tractor | Shelley Thompson | ||
| Drinkwater | Stephen Campanelli | ||
| Evelyne | Carl Bessai | ||
| Inès | Renée Beaulieu | ||
| The Inhuman (L'Inhumain) | Jason Brennan | ||
| Lune | Arturo Pérez Torres, Aviva Armour-Ostroff | ||
| The Noise of Engines (Le Bruit des moteurs) | Philippe Grégoire | ||
| Nouveau Québec | Sarah Fortin | ||
| Peace by Chocolate | Jonathan Keijser | ||
| Run Woman Run | Zoe Leigh Hopkins | ||
| We're All in This Together | Katie Boland | ||
| Craft awards: • Dayo Ade (Cinema of Sleep), Best Performance • Luc Picard (Confessions of a Hitman), Best Director • Sarah Fortin (Nouveau Québec), Best Screenplay • Diego Guijarro (Carmen), Best Cinematography | [37] | ||
| 2022 | Coyote | Katherine Jerkovic | [39] |
| The 12 Tasks of Imelda (Les 12 travaux d’Imelda) | Martin Villeneuve | [40] | |
| Adult Adoption | Karen Knox | ||
| Broken Angel | Jules Arita Koostachin | ||
| Colorblind | Mostafa Keshvari | ||
| Diaspora | Deco Dawson | ||
| The End of Sex | Sean Garrity | ||
| Exile | Jason James | ||
| Lissa's Trip | Jeffery Lando | ||
| Niagara | Guillaume Lambert | ||
| Midnight at the Paradise | Vanessa Matsui | ||
| Polaris | Kirsten Carthew | ||
| Rodeo (Rodéo) | Joëlle Desjardins Paquette | ||
| Soft-Spoken Weepy Cult Child | Irina Lord | ||
| Craft awards: • Jorge Martinez Colorado (Coyote), Best Performance • Joëlle Desjardins Paquette (Rodeo), Best Director • Guillaume Lambert (Niagara), Best Screenplay • David Schuurman (Polaris), Best Cinematography • Arthur Tarnowski (The 12 Tasks of Imelda), Best Editing | [39] | ||
| 2023 | Atikamekw Suns (Soleils Atikamekw) | Chloé Leriche | [41] |
| The Boy in the Woods | Rebecca Snow | [42] | |
| The Burning Season | Sean Garrity | ||
| Finality of Dusk | Madison Thomas | ||
| Hailey Rose | Sandi Somers | ||
| My Mother's Men (Les hommes de ma mère) | Anik Jean | ||
| The Nature of Love (Simple comme Sylvain) | Monia Chokri | ||
| She Talks to Strangers | Bruce Sweeney | ||
| Tell Me Why These Things Are So Beautiful (Dis-moi pourquoi ces choses sont si belles) | Lyne Charlebois | ||
| This Time | Robert Vaughn | ||
| With Love and a Major Organ | Kim Albright | ||
| Zoe.mp4 | Jeremy Lutter | ||
| Craft awards: • Ensemble cast of Atikamekw Suns, Best Performance • Chloé Leriche (Atikamekw Suns), Best Direction • Jonas Chernick and Diana Frances (The Burning Season), Best Screenplay • André Turpin (The Nature of Love), Best Cinematography • Robert Swartz (The Boy in the Woods), Best Editing | [41] | ||
| 2024 | Really Happy Someday | J Stevens | [43] |
| Aberdeen | Ryan Cooper, Eva Thomas | [44] | |
| The Birds Who Fear Death | Sanjay Patel | ||
| Darkest Miriam | Naomi Jaye | ||
| Hunting Matthew Nichols | Markian Tarasiuk | ||
| Kryptic | Kourtney Roy | ||
| Lucky Strikes | Darcy Waite | ||
| Phoenixes (Phénix) | Jonathan Beaulieu-Cyr | ||
| Please, After You | Rob Michaels | ||
| Sway | Charlie Hamilton, Zachary Ramelan | ||
| Sweet Angel Baby | Melanie Oates | ||
| Who Do I Belong To | Meryam Joobeur | ||
| Young Werther | José Lourenço | ||
| Craft awards: • Salha Nasraoui (Who Do I Belong To), Best Performance • Gail Maurice (Aberdeen), Best Performance Honorable Mention • Jonathan Beaulieu-Cyr (Phoenixes), Best Direction • J Stevens and Breton Lalama (Really Happy Someday), Best Screenplay • Ariane Falardeau St-Amour (Phoenixes), Best Cinematography • Meryam Joobeur and Maxime Mathis (Who Do I Belong To), Best Editing | [45] | ||