Press Releases

International First Peoples Festival Awards

Trillion Grant
Awarded as part of the First Peoples’ Festival to a young emerging artist in visual arts and fine crafts. With
a 1500$ bursary for the winner.
Winner : Catherine Boivin

Best International Short Film
Awarded to a short film for the quality of its cinematic expression (narrative structure, cinematography, set
design, editing, sound design, direction of actors, screenplay, animation techniques, etc.).
Ex aequo
Heroínas, Marina Herrera, Peru
Nhakpoti, Pat-i Kayapó, Paul Chilsen, Brazil

Best Canadian Short Film – Espaces Autochtones / SRC Award
Awarded to a Canadian short film for the quality of its cinematic expression as a whole (narrative
structure, photo direction, set design, editing, sound concept, direction of actors, script, animation
techniques, etc.). With a $2,500 bursary for the winner.
Kanatenhs – When The Pine Needles Fall, Ellen Gabriel
Special Mention : Braided Together de Victoria Anderson-Gardner, Kyle Schmalenberg

Main Film Award for emerging Indigenous Artists
Awarded to an emerging indigenous filmmaker, from Canada or elsewhere, for a film revealing promising
talent. With a $1,000 bursary.
The voyager’s legacy – Bailey Poching, Bailey Poching
Special Mention : Street Lights, Te Mahara Tamehana

Air Canada – Matera Award
First prize, second prize
For Aboriginal filmmakers based in Canada who have made a film with international distribution potential.
Films entered for the APTN award are also eligible for this prize. The winning films will be screened at the
Matera International Film Festival in Italy (Sept 30 – Oct 7 2023); the award includes travel both ways
Montréal-Matera for the winning filmmakers.
First Prize
Bones of crows, Marie Clements
Second Prize
Chasseuse de sons (Ever Deadly) – Tanya Tagak, Chelsea McMullan

Les Films du 3 Mars Grant for A Canadian Documentary
A $750 bursary awarded to a documentary filmmaker in Canada, with an offer to present his/her film on
the FM3.CA VOD platform, to encourage him/her in the production of meaningful works about Aboriginal
peoples and cultures.
Kaatohkitopii: The horse he never rode, Trevor Solway

Les Films u 3 Mars’ Best Documentary Award
For the documentary film that succeedsd, in form and content, in illustrating a factual or intangible
Aboriginal reality, by authentically rendering the lives and stories of the protagonists.
Whetū Mārama – Bright Star, Toby Mills, Aileen O’Sullivan, Aotearoa N-Zélande

APTN Award
APTN AWARD dedicated to an aboriginal filmmaker who has distinguished himself/herself during the year.
Outstanding Achievement of the Year in Aboriginal Cinema.
Marie Clements for Bones of Crows

Rigoberta-Menchu Community Award
First and second Prize
Prizes awarded by the Rigoberta Menchú Tum Foundation to productions by an indigenous people or
community on the theme of “identity, discrimination and intercultural dialogue”, or which respond to a need
for community development in terms of speaking out, recording collective memory, preserving cultural
heritage, moving towards healing, fighting for rights, popular education or economic leverage. The Rigoberta
Menchú Tum Foundation asks the winners to donate a good video copy of their prize-winning work for nonprofit use by the Foundation, for dissemination and awareness-raising purposes.
First Prize
We Are Guardians, Chelsea Greene, Rob Grobman, Edivan Guajajara
Second Prize
Twice Colonized, Lin Alluna
Special Mention
La rebelión de las flores, Maria Laura Vasquez

Teueikan Creative Award
First and second Prize
Prizes awarded according to artistic merit to films that have shown originality in the subject matter and the
mise-en-scène, relevance in their cinematographic approaches and which correspond, in substance and
form, to the soul of the first peoples.
First Prize
A Boy Called Piano, Nina Nawalowalo, Fiji-Samoa Aotearoa NZ
Second Prize
Closed System, Bawaadan Collective, Canada

Dude Award
Jean-Pierre Fontaine « Anisheniu »