Awards & Prizes

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.).

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.

Awarded to an emerging indigenous filmmaker, from Canada or elsewhere, for a film revealing promising talent. With a $1,000 bursary.

Awarded to an emerging indigenous filmmaker, from Canada or elsewhere, for a film revealing promising talent. With a $1,000 bursary.

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 (Nov 2024); the award includes travel both ways Montréal-Matera for the winning filmmakers.

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.

For the documentary film that succeed, in form and content, in illustrating a factual or intangible Aboriginal reality, by authentically rendering the lives and stories of the protagonists.

APTN AWARD is dedicated to an aboriginal filmmaker who has distinguished himself/herself during the year. Outstanding Achievement of the Year in Aboriginal Cinema.

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 non profit use by the Foundation, for dissemination and awareness-raising purposes.

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.