The imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival is the world's largest Indigenous film and media arts festival, held annually in Toronto. The festival focuses on the film, video, radio, and new media work of Indigenous, Aboriginal and First Peoples from around the world. The festival includes screenings, parties, panel discussions, and cultural events.
Cody Lightning is a Cree actor and filmmaker from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He is the son of Georgina Lightning, and brother of William Lightning and Crystle Lightning.
Jordan Canning is a Canadian director for film and television. She is known for her independent feature films We Were Wolves (2014) and Suck It Up (2017), as well as her work directing on television series Baroness Von Sketch Show,Burden of Truth and Schitt's Creek.
Chloé Leriche is a Canadian film director from Montreal, Quebec. Her debut feature film, Before the Streets , received six Canadian Screen Award nominations at the 5th Canadian Screen Awards in 2017, including Best Picture and a nod for Leriche as Best Director.
The Jean-Marc Vallée DGC Discovery Award is an annual Canadian award, presented by the Directors Guild of Canada to honour works by emerging filmmakers.
The DGC Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Feature Film is an annual Canadian award, presented by the Directors Guild of Canada to honour the year's best direction in feature films in Canada.
Thyrone Tommy is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. After writing and directing the short film Mariner (2016), Tommy received acclaim for his work on the feature film Learn to Swim (2021), both of which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Brother is a 2022 Canadian drama film, written, produced and directed by Clement Virgo. An adaptation of David Chariandy's award-winning novel of the same name, the film centres on the relationship between Francis and Michael, two Black Canadian brothers growing up in the Scarborough district of Toronto, Ontario in the early 1990s.
Rosie is a 2022 Canadian comedy-drama film, written, produced, and directed by Gail Maurice. Maurice's feature directorial debut and an expansion of her 2018 short film of the same name, the film centres on Rosie, a young First Nations girl who is sent to live with her aunt Frédérique in Montreal after her mother's death, and learns the value of rebuilding chosen family from Fred and her two-spirit friends Flo and Mo.
To Kill a Tiger is a 2022 Hindi-language Canadian documentary film, directed by Nisha Pahuja. The film centres on a family in Jharkhand, India, who are campaigning for justice after their teenage daughter was brutally raped.
The DGC Award for Best Short Film is an annual Canadian award, presented by the Directors Guild of Canada to honour the year's best Canadian short films.
Fitting In is a 2023 Canadian coming-of-age comedy drama film written and directed by Molly McGlynn. It stars Maddie Ziegler, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Djouliet Amara, and Emily Hampshire. The film was titled Bloody Hell in its first showing at SXSW. Several additional film festival showings were presented in 2023. The film won the award for Best Canadian Film at the 2023 Vancouver International Film Festival.
Someone Lives Here is a 2023 Canadian documentary film, directed by Zack Russell. The film profiles Khaleel Seivwright, a carpenter who has launched a project of building small private shelters for homeless people in Toronto during the COVID-19 pandemic, against the bureaucratic resistance of the city government.
The 48th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 7 to 17, 2023.
Days of Happiness is a 2023 Canadian drama film written and directed by Chloé Robichaud. The film stars Sophie Desmarais as Emma, an orchestra conductor who is navigating her toxic relationship with her father and agent Patrick and her budding new romantic relationship with Naëlle as she considers a great new career opportunity with a prestigious orchestra.
Seagrass is a 2023 Canadian drama film, written and directed by Meredith Hama-Brown. Hama-Brown's full-length feature debut, the film stars Ally Maki as Judith, a woman who is at a family retreat with her husband Steve and their children following the death of her mother, where she and Steve are coping with tensions in their marriage arising from their status as an interracial couple.
The Queen of My Dreams is a 2023 Canadian comedy drama film, written and directed by Fawzia Mirza. Mirza's full-length directorial debut, the film stars Amrit Kaur as Azra, a Pakistani Canadian woman who has had a strained relationship with her parents since coming out as lesbian, who undergoes an emotional journey after the sudden unexpected death of her father Hassan.
Atikamekw Suns is a 2023 Canadian drama film, written, produced, and directed by Chloé Leriche. The film centres on the true story of five youths from the Atikamekw First Nation community of Manawan who were found dead in a truck in the nearby river in 1977, with police investigation remaining inconclusive to this day about whether the truck driving into the river was a simple accident or a racially-motivated attack.
Gamodi is a Canadian-Georgian science fiction film, directed by Felix Kalmenson and released in 2023. Set during the COVID-19 pandemic, the film stars Matt Shally and Maqzime Rauch as Viktor and Tarzan, a drag queen and a teenage drifter in Tbilisi who, with nowhere to self-isolate during COVID lockdowns, squat together in an abandoned tower block which increasingly resembles a purgatory between life and death.
Samuel Miller is an American novelist and screenwriter. He is most noted as co-writer with Cody Lightning of the 2023 film Hey, Viktor!, for which they received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay at the 12th Canadian Screen Awards in 2024.
