# Quebec City Film Festival

Quebec City Film Festival (French: Festival de cinéma de la ville de Québec) (FCVQ or QCFF) is a film festival held annually in September in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. It screens short and feature films and premieres movies from all over the world.

## Description

Founded in 2011, the Quebec City Film Festival (QCFF) is a non-profit organization that strives to offer film enthusiasts from Quebec and visitors from outside the province and abroad a major film event similar to other iconic international film festivals. It is a renowned and recognised platform that screens regional and international productions of new and original films. The QCFF also supports local and regional emerging artists by providing them with a showcase to present their works that attracts major media exposure.

## History

Since its inception, every year in the month of September the QCFF presents about 50 international feature films and more than 100 short films. The films represent all cinematographic genres and perspectives from all over the world, attracting an audience of more than 25,000 festival visitors every year. In addition to these works come the artisans that create them. At past events, the QCFF was proud to welcome more than 300 special guests to the festival, including well known filmmakers Jean-Claude Labrecque, Xavier Dolan, Jean-Marc Vallée, Denys Arcand, Christophe Gans, Mike Figgis, and Larry Clark as well as the many actors, writers and producers who also accompany their works at the festival.
The festival was not staged in 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec, but returned in 2022 with a smaller program than usual.

### 2011

* 21 September – 2 October
* 122 films
* 80 special guests
* 10 387 festival visitors
For its first edition, the QCFF opened with film Jean-Marc Vallée’s film Café de Flore, which was attended by the film's team; The Happiness of Others (Le bonheur des autres), the feature debut by Jean-Philippe Pearson, closed the festival.

### 2012

* 13 – 23 September
* 155 films
* 75 special guests
* 24 421 festival visitors
Based on a true story, L'Affaire Dumont was presented as the opening film of the second edition of the QCFF and attended by director Podz, producer Nicole Robert and actors that appeared in the film. Filmmaker Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette's Inch'Allah was chosen to close the second festival.
Festival activities were centred around the Dôme (aka the Igloo) in Place d’Youville and became a distinctive feature of the festival. It was open free to the public and hosted several evening parties and VIP events.

### 2013

* 18 – 29 September
* 161 films
* 88 special guests
* 25 464 festival visitors
For its third edition, Parkland by Peter Landesman, an ensemble film based around the assassination of JFK, was presented to open the festival. The Quebec premiere of Stefan Miljevic’s film Amsterdam was chosen to close the festival.
New for the third year: the creation of the Cinephile Jury, made up entirely of residents of Québec City. The jury awards the most original film among first-time filmmakers. In 2013, the award went to Don Jon, the debut by American actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

### 2014

* 18 – 28 September
* 161 films
* 105 special guests
* 23 191 festival visitors
Mommy by Xavier Dolan was presented as the opening film and attended by the film's team. The North American premiere of Beauty and the Beast was screened at the awards ceremony and attended by the film's writer and director Christophe Gans.
The usual closing ceremony, which had been held on the last Saturday, is from then on replaced by a gala on the second Wednesday, during which the award ceremony takes place.
Shortly before the festival began, containers were remodelled as mini cinema halls named Ciné Pop-up. A roaming project, they are placed in different locations throughout Québec City. The goal of Ciné Pop-up is to relocate screenings to where residents live so that they can view a selection of short films in their neighbourhoods.

### 2015

* 16 – 27 September
* 217 films
* 208 special guests
* 24 839 festival visitors
Paul à Québec by François Bouvier was presented as the opening film: author Michel Rabagliati, producer Karine Vanasse and actors from the film descended on the red carpet of Place d’Youville for the occasion. Philippe Falardeau's film My Internship in Canada was screened at the awards ceremony.
The concert film The Phantom of the Opera (a screening of the Rupert Julian classic from 1925 set to music by an orchestra conducted by Gabriel Thibaudeau) was presented at the Palais Montcalm and featured a Casavant organ.
Ciné Pop-up continued to relocate throughout the city as Place d'Youville was transformed into a large open-air cinema, with screenings that included, among others, the Back to the Future trilogy to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the release of the first film.

### 2016

* 14 – 24 September
* 204 special guests
* 294 films
* over 30 000 festival visitors
For its sixth edition, the festival opened with Boundaries (French title: Pays) by Chloé Robichaud, with some members of the film's crew attending. Along with the director, actors such as Rémy Girard, Yves Jacques, Macha Grenon, and Emily Van Camp, as well as Quebec cinema artists like Julien Poulin, Marie Eykel, Manon Briand and Rock Demers walked up the red carpet of place D’Youville.
The Palais Montcalm also hosted the North-American premiere of 1:54 by Yan England, screened as the film of the Award ceremony night. The features It's only the End of the World (French title: Juste la fin du monde) by Xavier Dolan and Kiss me like a Lover (French title: Embrasse-moi comme tu m’aimes) by André Forcier, both premiered at the festival and were favorites among the audience, the latter winning the Public's Choice Award for a Feature Film.
For a third year in a row, the Ciné Pop-up also spread around downtown, both before and during the festival, becoming over the years a classic and must-see event.

### 2017

* 13 – 23 September
* 253 special guests
* 291 films
* over 45 000 festival visitors
For its 2017 edition, the Festival opened with the world premiere of Cross My Heart, directed by Luc Picard. The filmmaker and members of the casr were in attendance. Barefoot At Dawn by Francis Leclerc screened as the Gala Night Film, and was preceded by the awards ceremony : cast members Roy Dupuis, Justin Leyrolles-Bouchard, Robert Lepage and Marianne Fortier were attending.
Two Film Concerts were hosted at Palais Montcalm. The Passion of Joan of Arc, Dreyer's silent masterpiece of 1928, eas interpreted by the pianist and organist Karol Mossakowski. QCFF also screened Oscar-winning BiRDMAN by Alejandro González Iñárritu, with the soundtrack performed live by its composer, drummer Antonio Sánchez.
Various cultural personalities attended the Festival: Louise Lecavalier, Marc Séguin, Zachary Richard, Cédric Klapisch, and others.

## Tributes

* 2017: George Lazenby
* 2016 : Julien Poulin & Rock Demers
* 2015 : Denys Arcand & Matthew Rankin
* 2014 : Richard Lavoie, Bruce LaBruce et Alain Resnais
* 2013 : Izabel Grondin & Im Sang-Soo
* 2012 : Alex Gibney
* 2011 : Jean-Claude Labrècque & Larry Clark

## Spokespersons

* 2015 : François Létourneau
* 2014 : Yves Jacques

## Venues

Mostly displayed in the historical centre of Québec City, QCFF made screenings in the following places :

## Awards
### Grand Prize

| Year | Film | Director |
| 2012 | White Elephant (Elefante Blanco) | Pablo Trapero |
| 2013 | The Broken Circle Breakdown | Félix Van Groeningen |
| 2014 | 20,000 Days on Earth | Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard |
| 2015 | Necktie Youth | Sibs Shongwe-La Mer |
| 2016 | Peter and the Farm | Tony Stone |
| 2016 | Honorable mention: As I Open My Eyes (À peine j'ouvre les yeux) | Leyla Bouzid |
| 2017 | Sambá | Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas |
| 2017 | Honorable mention: Lucky | John Carroll Lynch |
| 2018 | A Colony (Une colonie) | Geneviève Dulude-De Celles |
| 2019 | Kuessipan | Myriam Verreault |
| 2020 | Goddess of the Fireflies (La déesse des mouches à feu) | Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette |

### Public Award, Feature Film

| Year | Film | Director |
| 2011 | The Artist | Michel Hazanavicius |
| 2012 | All Together (Et si on vivait tous ensemble?) | Stéphane Robelin |
| 2013 | The Broken Circle Breakdown | Félix Van Groeningen |
| 2014 | Girls on the Hunt (Un film de chasse et de filles) | Julie Lambert |
| 2015 | Family Demolition (La démolition familiale) | Patrick Damien |
| 2016 | Kiss Me Like a Lover (Embrasse-moi comme tu m'aimes) | André Forcier |
| 2017 | Cross My Heart (Les rois mongols) | Luc Picard |
| 2018 | Pauline Julien, Intimate and Political (Pauline Julien : intime et politique) | Pascale Ferland |
| 2019 | Living 100 MPH (Vivre à 100 milles à l'heure) | Louis Bélanger |
| 2020 | Wandering: A Rohingya Story (Errance sans retour) | Mélanie Carrier, Olivier Higgins |

### Public Award, Canadian Film

| Year | Film | Director |
| 2012 | El Huaso | Carlo Guillermo Proto |
| 2013 | Absences | Carole Laganière |
| 2013 | The Effect (L'Effet) | Jocelyn Langlois |
| 2014 | La vie selon Morgue | Jean Fontaine |
| 2015 | Paul à Québec | François Bouvier |
| 2016 | The Gardener | Sébastien Chabot |
| 2017 | Baggage (Bagages) | Paul Tom |
| 2018 | A Colony (Une colonie) | Geneviève Dulude-De Celles |

### Best First Film (Prix Jury Cinéphile/AQCC Award)

| Year | Film | Director |
| 2013 | Don Jon | Joseph Gordon-Levitt |
| 2014 | Girls on the Hunt (Un film de chasse et de filles) | Julie Lambert |
| 2015 | Family Demolition (La démolition familiale) | Patrick Damien |
| 2016 | As I Open My Eyes (À peine j'ouvre les yeux) | Leyla Bouzid |
| 2016 | Honorable mention: Old Stone | Johnny Ma |
| 2016 | Honorable mention: Sutak | Mirlan Abdykalykov |
| 2017 | The Nobodies (Los Nadie) | Juan Sebastián Mesa |
| 2017 | Honorable mention: Susan Bartsch: On Top | Anthony Caronna, Alexander Smith |
| 2018 | Smuggling Hendrix | Marios Piperides |
| 2019 | Mad Dog and the Butcher (Les Derniers vilains) | Thomas Rinfret |
| 2020 | Nafi's Father (Baamum Nafi) | Mamadou Dia |

### Collegiate Jury Award

| Year | Film | Director |
| 2015 | Necktie Youth | Sibs Shongwe-La Mer |
| 2016 | Manor (Manoir) | Martin Fournier, Pier-Luc Latulippe |
| 2016 | Honorable mention: Tempëte | Samuel Collardey |
| 2017 | Swagger | Olivier Babinet |
| 2018 | Five Fingers for Marseilles | Michael Matthews |
| 2019 | Why Don’t You Just Die! | Kirill Sokolov |
| 2019 | Honorable mention: For Sama | Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts |
| 2020 | Call Me Human (Je m'appelle humain) | Kim O'Bomsawin |
| 2020 | Sweet Thing | Alexandre Rockwell |

### Grand Jury Prize, Canadian Short Film

| Year | Film | Director |
| 2014 | Pas la grosse Sophie | Philippe Arsenault |
| 2015 | Moulures | Guillaume Monette |
| 2016 | The Voice (La voce) | David Uloth |
| 2017 | Dolls Don't Cry (Toutes les poupées ne pleurent pas) | Frédérick Tremblay |
| 2018 | Fauve | Jérémy Comte |
| 2019 | Heart Bomb (Une bombe au cœur) | Rémi St-Michel |
| 2020 | No award presented | No award presented |

### Grand Jury Prize, International Short Film

| Year | Film | Director |
| 2016 | Zvir | Miroslav Sikavica |
| 2016 | Spoetnik | Noël Loozen |
| 2017 | Scris / Nescreis | Andrian Silisteanu |
| 2018 | Proch | Jakub Radej |
| 2019 | The Summer and All the Rest | Sven Bresser |
| 2020 | Olla | Ariane Labed |

### Public Prize, Short Film

| Year | Film | Director |
| 2011 | Mokhtar | Halima Ouardiri |
| 2012 | First Snow (Première neige) | Michaël Lalancette |
| 2013 | Le Chevreuil | Rémi St-Michel |
| 2014 | Jamais je ne t'oublierai | Alexandre Desjardins |
| 2015 | La divine stratégie | Eliot Laprise, Martin Forger |
| 2016 | La Partie | Alexandre Isabelle |
| 2017 | Crème de menthe | Jean-Marc E. Roy, Philippe David Gagné |
| 2018 | Fauve | Jérémy Comte |
| 2019 | I'll End Up in Jail (Je finirai en prison) | Alexandre Dostie |
| 2020 | Toomas Beneath the Valley of the Wild Wolves | Chintis Lundgren |

### Local Talent Award (Bourse à la création des cinéastes de Québec)

| Year | Film | Director |
| 2013 | Le Camarade | Benjamin Tessier |
| 2014 | Le frein | Gabriel-Antoine Roy, Jonathan Roy |
| 2015 | La bagatelle | Franie-Eléonore Bernier, Anne-Marie Bouchard, Julie Pelletier |
| 2016 | La Partie | Alexandre Isabelle |
| 2017 | Ballet Jazz | Maxime Robin |
| 2018 | Bonfires | Martin Bureau |
| 2018 | Je la chante dans ma douche, habituellement | Mariane Béliveau |
| 2019 | Canicule | Fanny Perreault |
| 2020 | Vie de rêve | Vincent Paquette |
| 2020 | Sous pression | David Labrecque |