#FIRSTLOOK: 2023 INSIDE OUT 2SLGBTQ+ FILM FESTIVAL AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED

The winners of the 2023 Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival Awards were announced this weekend in Toronto where $32,000 in prizes were handed out to various 2SLGBTQ+ filmmakers. Top honours went to Juan Sebastián Torales’ ALMAMULA (Best First Feature), Lulu Wei’s SUPPORTING OUR SELVES (Best Canadian Feature), Beth Warrian’s ADORE (Best Canadian Short), and Karimah Zakia Issa with SCARING WOMEN AT NIGHT (Emerging Canadian Artist).

The Audience Award winners are Ally Pankiw’s I USED TO BE FUNNY (seen in still above) for Best Narrative Feature, Loveleen Kaur’s LEILANI’S FORTUNE for Best Documentary Feature, and Zeppelin Zeerip’s APAYAUQ for Best Short Film.

The festival is also proud to announce director Judith Schuyler’s upcoming project THERE IS LIGHT won the annual “Pitch, Please!” contest. The “Pitch, Please!” competition took place in person on June 3, 2023, with competitors from across the globe presenting a short, two-minute pitch to a jury and audience. Prizes awarded to the winner include a cash production grant of $5,000 sponsored by Netflix.

The 2023 festival took place in person and virtually from May 25 to June 4 in Toronto, Canada and showcased 107 films from 30 countries, including 33 feature films, and 7 world premieres, This year’s festival opened with the Canadian premiere of Ira Sach’s critically acclaimed drama PASSAGES, and closed with Tom Gustafson’s fantastical summer romance, GLITTER & DOOM, with cast Tig Notaro, Lea DeLaria, Missi Pyle, Alex Diaz, and Alan Cammish in town to present its world premiere.

The full winners and awards are as follows:

CANADIAN JURIED AWARDS

The jurors for the 2023 Canadian jury were filmmakers Odu Adamu, Dylan Glynn, and Alice Wang

Best Canadian Feature – sponsored by Warner Access Media

SUPPORTING OUR SELVES – Director, Lulu Wei

Best Canadian Short – sponsored by DGC National

ADORE – Director, Beth Warrian

Emerging Canadian Artist – Sponsored by RBC Royal Bank

SCARING WOMEN AT NIGHT – Director, Karimah Zakia Issa

INTERNATIONAL JURIED AWARD

The jurors for the 2023 International jury Them Editor Michael Cuby, actor Izaiah Dockery, and filmmaker Kait Schuster.

Best First Feature – Sponsored by NBC Universal

ALMAMULA – Director, Juan Sebastián Torales

Honourable Mention for Best First Feature

SOMETHING YOU SAID LAST NIGHT – Director, Luis De Filippis

Leadership Circle Prize for Outstanding Performance – sponsored by Daydream

Payman Maadi in OPPONENT (MOTSTÅNDAREN)

AUDIENCE AWARDS – sponsored by eOne

Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature

I USED TO BE FUNNY – Director, Ally Pankiw

Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature

LEILANI’S FORTUNE – Director, Loveleen Kaur

Audience Award for Best Short Film

APAYAUQ – Director, Zeppelin Zerrip

“PITCH, PLEASE!” – sponsored by Netflix

THERE IS LIGHT – Director Judith Schuyler

(Photo credit: levelFILM)

#TIFF22: “DIASPORA” AND “SCARING WOMEN AT NIGHT” TO PREMIERE AT 2022 TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

Shant Joshi and Lindsay Blair Goeldner of Fae Pictures are beyond thrilled to announce that two shorts, Diaspora from Director Tyler Mckenzie Evans and Scaring Women at Night, from Director Karimah Zakia Issa, will have their world premieres at TIFF22 in the Short Cuts programme.

Diaspora
Writer/Director: Tyler Mckenzie Evans
Starring: Cara Ricketts, Rainbow Sun Francks
Synopsis: In a black suburb, a couple begins to notice that their neighbours are disappearing and white people are moving in. They soon discover something much more unpalatable.
Producers: Malachi Ellis, Lindsay Blair Goeldner
Executive Producers: Shant Joshi, Cara Ricketts

Scaring Women at Night
Director: Karimah Zakia Issa
Story by: Ace Clamber
Starring: Izaiah Dockery, Kavita Musty, Dashawn Blackwood
Synopsis: Two strangers are scared on a late walk home. As they try to escape one another, their worlds collide at an intersection forcing them to question who they’re afraid of and why.
Producers: Lindsay Blair Goeldner, Rosalind Goodwin
Executive Producer: Shant Joshi

From Diaspora Director, Tyler Mckenzie Evans: “Many low-income neighbourhoods in Toronto have slowly been changing – over-priced grocery stores, coffee shops and condos are popping up. People of colour that live in these areas eventually disappear along with the area they once knew. Melina, the protagonist, is our watcher; she notices little changes in her neighbourhood. As an audience member we start to question if what she’s noticing is really happening or if it’s just her own paranoia. Diaspora is dark and twisted in so many ways and I’m extremely excited to showcase this at TIFF to a city that’s been so close to my heart throughout my life.”

From Scaring Women at Night Director, Karimah Zakia Issa: “We’ve set up a world where everyone feels like they know what’s about to happen simply by aligning a couple social cues. Woman. Alone. Night. From there we shift into Ash’s perspective, having lived experiences on both ends, he’s our key to seeing this familiar scene differently and begin questioning our complacency. I’m proud to have made this film alongside talented trans folks and people from a plethora of social intersections and I’m thrilled to share our film with TIFF’s audience!”