
AWARDS
Feature Awards
Best Feature
Presented by IATSE 891
Run Woman Run
Directed by Zoe Leigh Hopkins
Produced by Paul Devonshire
Best Documentary
Presented by Pacific Backlot
Do You Remember Me?
Directed By Désirée Pomper and Helena Müller
Best Direction
Presented by DGC
Donkeyhead
Directed by Agam Darshi
Best Performance
Presented by UBCP/ACTRA
Run Woman Run
Dakota Ray Herbert as Beck
Best Cinematography
Presented by SIM
Do You Remember Me?
Cinematography by Helena Müller and Murat Temel
Best Screenplay
Presented by CFAE Law
Run Woman Run
Written by Zoe Leigh Hopkins
Best Editing
Presented by Canadian Cinema Editors
Mickey On The Road
Editing by Chen-Ching LEI
Best Musical Score
Presented by Vancouver Post Alliance
Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy
Score by Chandra Melting Tallow
Impact Award
Presented by Capilano University
Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy
Directed by Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers
Shorts Awards
Best Short
Presented by Finale/Picture Shop
I Am Leo
Directed by Tanja Tajo Hurrle
Produced by Patrick Büchting
Best Direction
Presented by Matrix
Mazel Brouk
Directed by Hanael Allam
Best Performance
Presented by Lucas Talent
Clinch
Performance by Amélie Onzon
Best Cinematography
Presented by ICG 669
Wild Seed
Cinematography by Ai Chung
Best Editing
Presented by Ron Heaps
Clinch
Editing by Ellemieke Middelhoff
Impact Award
Presented by Pacific Screenwriting Program
I Am Leo
Directed by Tanja Tajo Hurrle
Meet Our Jury
Alisa Luke
Alisa is a Vancouver-based Writer and Producer who loves the opportunity to be involved in socially and culturally relevant narratives that effect change.
Through her work in Post Production, she’s delivered more than 80 titles including features, MOWs, shorts and animated programs to networks, distributors and festivals.
Julia Niendorf
Julia started her post career in 2004 logging dailies from VHS tapes in Los Angeles, and has never looked back. She has worked in all areas of post production; from data management, offline editorial and digital intermediate/finishing. She currently holds the title of Head of Production at Finale/Picture Shop Vancouver, which allows her to keep up to date on new workflows, and help her clients properly supervise and deliver their projects, whether it be a local indie feature, or the latest Netflix series.
Giovanna Morales Vargas
Giovanna Morales Vargas is an award-winning Latina filmmaker originally from Colombia, and currently based out of Vancouver BC. Giovanna’s writing feature and directorial debut, A Perfect 14, premiered at film festivals around the world, earning her the Best Writing award at Women Texas Film Festival. The film also won five top non-fiction awards, including Best Documentary at the Twin Cities Film Festival, where it screened alongside Academy Award winning and nominated films. After a successful festival run, A Perfect 14 was picked up for worldwide distribution by Gravitas Ventures and it’s currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video, making the platform’s top 10 most watched documentaries in Canada for several weeks after its release. Giovanna is currently developing her first TV series, and in post-production for the upcoming feature thriller, Guiltless, in which she is the producer.
Sasha Duncan
Sasha Duncan is filmmaker and creative executive from the West Coast who prides herself on being a director in many forms. She has been the Director of Programming for the Vancouver Short Film Festival, the Managing Director of the Run N Gun 48hr Film Race and Festival, and is the Director of Development for Kickstart Entertainment, in addition to being a writer/director of her own passion-projects. Sasha strives to support artists and her community, providing platforms and opportunities for stories to be told.
She is grateful to live and create on the territory of the Coast Salish peoples, including the Squamish, Stolo, Tsleil-Waututh, and Musqueam Nations and takes measures through her work and play to both acknowledge and support Land Back and other efforts.
Sasha holds a diploma in Writing for Film & Television from VFS and a B.A. in Sociology from UBC.
Melanie Jones
Melanie Jones is an artist, writer and director and the 2021 winner of the TIFF-CBC Screenwriter Award. They are an alumnus of the TIFF Writer’s Studio, Women in the Director’s Chair, From Our Dark Side Incubator, and the Reykjavik Talent Lab. Their debut feature, FSM, made possible through the Indiecan10k Challenge, premiered at the Whistler Film Festival in 2015 and earned them a Leo Nomination for Directing, going on to a theatrical release in Vancouver and a cover story in the Georgia Straight. Their work has screened at festivals around the world earning dozens of nominations and awards including multiple Audience Choice awards, Best Comedy awards, and a Golden Sheaf Award for their most recent short film, punk-rock badminton comedy Shuttlecock. Outside of their filmmaking pursuits, Melanie is also an Assistant Professor at the University of the Fraser Valley, teaching both Sculpture and Film.
Andy Alvarez
Andy Alvarez is an award-winning Colombian Canadian filmmaker and co-founder of Studio 104 Entertainment Inc. Her short film “La Mariposa” (2017), based on her personal story of growing up as an immigrant in Canada, won a Leo Award in 2018. Since then, she has written and directed “Our Home” (2019), garnering accolades from Hot Docs 2019 and winning the Best Canadian Short Film Award a the Wilson Oakville Film Festival in 2020. She also co-wrote and directed; “Sol” (2020), which was in the top 6 of the Crazy 8s short film competition in 2020. As of 2022, Andy has had three projects licensed by CBC, “La Mariposa,” “Sol,” and “Growing Up With Mi Familia” (2021). With the support of TELEFILM Canada, she is currently developing her feature film, “La Estrella al Lado de la Luna.”
Chidem Anna Alie
Chidem Anna Alie is a writer/producer of media film and television. Growing up in both Canada and her family home of Northern Cyprus, she started out as a News Anchor, TV Host and Producer for BRTK, the local TV and radio station in Northern Cyprus before relocating to the US. Across the pond she has worked in the areas of production coordinating of film and television projects for Fox, Warner, Hallmark, Freeform, Lifetime/A&E as well as producing advertising and brand related content for brands such as Samsung, BMW. Anna’s passion and mission is to bring balance through diversity and more female centric storytelling. Towards that end she is currently developing several media projects from a more diverse and feminine perspective.
Belen Garcia
Belen is an emerging Cinematographer & Unit Stills Photographer who was born and raised in Naucalpan, Estado de Mexico. Before making the transition to film, Belen studied animation and photography, practices that continue to influence her perspective as a filmmaker. Belen has lived and studied in New York, Florida, Mexico City, and Vancouver, where she was honoured to receive a full scholarship for the VFS Film Production Program. After graduating in 2019, and shooting several indie short films, Belen co-created and shot the Crazy8 “Tryst”. This experience launched her into her second feature film “Done/Undone” with Bard on the Beach.
VIWFF is proud to showcase the work of artists from across Turtle Island and beyond. Our offices are located on the unceded, traditional, and ancestral territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations.
Media Inquiries: nicola@penderpr.com