# 2023 Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival

The 2023 edition of the Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival, the 35th edition in the event's history, took place from September 16 to 24, 2023 in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.
The 2023 festival returned to a fully in-person model, following the partially-online hybrid festivals that took place from 2020 to 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Following reduced attendance during the pandemic, the 2023 festival saw such a renewed surge of audience interest that its website briefly crashed on the Thursday before the festival opening.

## Awards

Award winners were announced on September 28.
| Award | Film | Filmmaker |
| Audience Choice, Feature Film | The Old Oak | Ken Loach |
| Audience Choice, Feature Film Runner-Up | Anatomy of a Fall (Anatomie d'un chute) | Justine Triet |
| Audience Choice, Documentary | Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe | Robert McCallum |
| Audience Choice, Documentary Runner Up | Swan Song | Chelsea McMullan |
| Audience Choice, Short Film | Death to the Bikini! (À mort le bikini!) | Justine Gauthier |
| Audience Choice, Short Film Runner Up | Lingering Pieces | Jacqueline Lamb |
| Outstanding Canadian Feature | Seagrass | Meredith Hama-Brown |
| Outstanding International Feature | The Royal Hotel | Kitty Green |
| Outstanding Female-Led Feature Film | Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Savvusanna sõsarad) | Anna Hints |
| Cinema Indigenized Outstanding Talent | Aitamaako'tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun | Banchi Hanuse |
| French-Language Feature Film | Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant) | Ariane Louis-Seize |
| Inspiring Voices and Perspectives | Close to You | Dominic Savage |
| Outstanding Short Film | I Promise You Paradise (Paradis) | Morad Mostafa |
| Outstanding Animated Short Film | Return to Hairy Hill (Retour à Hairy Hill) | Daniel Gies |
| Outstanding Northern Ontario Short Film | Walter's Room | Austin Lindsay |

## Official selections
### Gala Presentations

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| The Boy in the Woods | The Boy in the Woods | Rebecca Snow | Canada |
| La Chimera | La Chimera | Alice Rohrwacher | Italy, France, Switzerland |
| Close to You | Close to You | Dominic Savage | Canada, United Kingdom |
| Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant | Ariane Louis-Seize | Canada |
| My Mother's Men | Les Hommes de ma mère | Anik Jean | Canada |
| The Old Oak | The Old Oak | Ken Loach | United Kingdom, France, Belgium |
| Swan Song | Swan Song | Chelsea McMullan | Canada |
| Sweetland | Sweetland | Christian Sparkes | Canada |
| The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry | The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry | Hettie Macdonald | United Kingdom |

### Special Presentations

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| Anatomy of a Fall | Anatomie d'un chute | Justine Triet | France |
| Days of Happiness | Les Jours heureux | Chloé Robichaud | Canada |
| A Difficult Year | Une année difficile | Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache | France |
| Fitting In | Fitting In | Molly McGlynn | Canada |
| The King Tide | The King Tide | Christian Sparkes | Canada |
| Monster | Kaibutsu | Hirokazu Kore-eda | Japan |
| Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe | Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe | Robert McCallum | Canada |
| My Animal | My Animal | Jacqueline Castel | Canada |
| One Summer | Le Temps d'un été | Louise Archambault | Canada |
| Rose | Rose | Niels Arden Oplev | Denmark, France |
| Perfect Days | Perfect Days | Wim Wenders | Japan, Germany |
| The Pot-au-Feu | La Passion de Dodin Bouffant | Tran Anh Hung | France |
| The Promised Land | Bastarden | Nikolaj Arcel | Denmark |
| The Royal Hotel | The Royal Hotel | Kitty Green | Australia |
| Seven Veils | Seven Veils | Atom Egoyan | Canada |
| The Teachers' Lounge | Das Lehrerzimmer | Ilker Çatak | Germany |
| They Shot the Piano Player | Dispararon al pianista | Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal | Spain, France, Netherlands |
| Warrior Strong | Warrior Strong | Shane Belcourt | Canada |

### Features Canada

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| Backspot | Backspot | D. W. Waterson | Canada |
| Better Days | Better Days | Joan Carr-Wiggin | Canada |
| Daniel's Gotta Die | Daniel's Gotta Die | Jeremy Lalonde | Canada |
| Echo to Delta | Écho à Delta | Patrick Boivin | Canada |
| Hailey Rose | Hailey Rose | Sandi Somers | Canada |
| I Used to Be Funny | I Used to Be Funny | Ally Pankiw | Canada |
| I Will Not Starve | Non morirò di fame | Umberto Spinazzola | Canada, Italy |
| Little Jesus | Petit Jésus | Julien Rigoulot | Canada, France |
| Niagara | Niagara | Guillaume Lambert | Canada |
| Orah | Orah | Lonzo Nzekwe | Canada |
| A Respectable Woman | Une femme respectable | Bernard Émond | Canada |
| Richelieu | Richelieu | Pier-Philippe Chevigny | Canada |
| Rodeo | Rodéo | Joëlle Desjardins Paquette | Canada |
| Seagrass | Seagrass | Meredith Hama-Brown | Canada |
| Suze | Suze | Dane Clark, Linsey Stewart | Canada |
| Who's Yer Father? | Who's Yer Father? | Jeremy Larter | Canada |

### Documentaries

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| Adaptation | Adaptation | Jake Thomas | Canada |
| Another Body | Another Body | Sophie Compton, Reuben Hamlyn | United States |
| The Last Stop: Canada's Lost Locomotive | The Last Stop: Canada's Lost Locomotive | Kaio Kathriner | Canada |
| The Lebanese Burger Mafia | The Lebanese Burger Mafia | Omar Mouallem | Canada |
| On the Adamant | Sur l'Adamant | Nicolas Philibert | France, Japan |
| Rule of Two Walls | Rule of Two Walls | David Gutnik | Ukraine |
| Smoke Sauna Sisterhood | Savvusanna sõsarad | Anna Hints | Estonia, France, Iceland |
| Subterranean | Subterranean | Francois-Xavier "Fix" De Ruydts | Canada |
| Total Trust | Total Trust | Jialing Zhang | Germany, Netherlands |
| We Dare to Dream | We Dare to Dream | Waad al-Kateab | United Kingdom |

### World Cinema

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| Aliens Abducted My Parents and Now I Feel Kinda Left Out | Aliens Abducted My Parents and Now I Feel Kinda Left Out | Jake Van Wagoner | United States |
| The Book of Solutions | Le Livre des solutions | Michel Gondry | France |
| The Crossing | La Traversée | Florence Miailhe | France, Czech Republic, Germany |
| Fallen Leaves | Kuolleet lehdet | Aki Kaurismäki | Finland, Germany |
| Fathers and Mothers | Fædre & mødre | Paprika Steen | Denmark |
| How to Have Sex | How to Have Sex | Molly Manning Walker | United Kingdom |
| Kidnapped | Rapito | Marco Bellocchio | Italy, France, Germany |
| Minore | Minore | Konstantinos Koutsoliotas | United Kingdom, Greece |
| The Persian Version | The Persian Version | Maryam Keshavarz | United States |
| Raging Grace | Raging Grace | Paris Zarcilla | United Kingdom |
| Robot Dreams | Robot Dreams | Pablo Berger | Spain, France |
| Sleep | 잠 | Jason Yu | South Korea |
| Sometimes I Think About Dying | Sometimes I Think About Dying | Rachel Lambert | United States |
| Vincent Must Die | Vincent doit mourir | Stéphan Castang | France, Belgium |

### In Full View: Crisis, Conflict, Conscience

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| Irena's Vow | Irena's Vow | Louise Archambault | Canada |
| Praying for Armageddon | Praying for Armageddon | Tonje Hessen Schei, Michael Rowley | Norway |
| Red Rooms | Les Chambres rouges | Pascal Plante | Canada |

### Cinema Indigenized (Nishnaabek Dbaajmawaat)

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| Aitamaako'tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun | Aitamaako'tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun | Banchi Hanuse | Canada |
| Broken Angel | MaaShwaKan MaNiTo | Jules Arita Koostachin | Canada |
| Café Daughter | Café Daughter | Shelley Niro | Canada |
| Frybread Face and Me | Frybread Face and Me | Billy Luther | United States |
| Hey, Viktor! | Hey, Viktor! | Cody Lightning | Canada |

### Cinema 9 Prime Time

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| Daughter of the Sun | Daughter of the Sun | Ryan Ward | Canada |
| Leilani's Fortune | Leilani's Fortune | Loveleen Kaur | Canada |
| Satan Wants You | Satan Wants You | Sean Horlor, Steve J. Adams | Canada |

### Late Night Frights

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| Purgatory Jack | Purgatory Jack | Brett M. Butler, Jason G. Butler | Canada |

### Regular short film program

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| Aves | Aves | Eli Snyder | United States |
| Awakening: The First Day | Awakening: The First Day | Jos Diaz Contreras, Santiago Carrasquilla | United States |
| Bang Bang | Bang Bang | Piotr Skowronski | Canada |
| Boat People | Boat People | Thao Lam, Kjell Boersma | Canada |
| Death to the Bikini! | À mort le bikini! | Justine Gauthier | Canada |
| Echoes | Échos | Sophie B. Jacque | Canada |
| The Girl with the Red Beret | The Girl with the Red Beret | Janet Perlman | Canada |
| Harvey | Harvey | Janice Nadeau | Canada |
| Hello to Me in 100 Years | Hello to Me in 100 Years | Wu-Ching Chang | Taiwan |
| I Promise You Paradise | Paradis | Morad Mostafa | France, Egypt, Qatar |
| IF | IF | Didier Charette | Canada |
| Invincible | Invincible | Vincent René-Lortie | Canada |
| The Late Set | The Late Set | Bren Patrick Burke | Canada |
| Lingering Pieces | Lingering Pieces | Jacqueline Lamb | Canada |
| Mrs. Iran's Husband | Mrs. Iran's Husband | Marjan Khosravi | Iran |
| Our Males and Females | Our Males and Females | Ahmad Alyaseer | Jordan |
| Portrait of a Cowboy | Portrait of a Cowboy | Devon Wycoff | United States |
| Return to Hairy Hill | Retour à Hairy Hill | Daniel Gies | Canada |
| The Riley Sisters | The Riley Sisters | Julia Jackman | United Kingdom |
| Stripper | Stripper | Anthony Sneed | Canada |
| Two Apples | Two Apples | Bahram Javahery | Canada |
| Until You Die | Jusqu’à ce que tu meures | Florence Lafond | Canada |
| Walter's Room | Walter's Room | Austin Lindsay | Canada |
| Yellow Dove Aftermath | Yellow Dove Aftermath | Rony A. Abovitz | United States |
| Zeb's Spider | Zeb's Spider | Sophie Jarvis | Canada |

### CTV Best in Shorts

The festival's dedicated competition for amateur short filmmakers from Northeastern Ontario.
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Community |
| A Bunch of Junk | A Bunch of Junk | Ian Johnson | Lively |
| Go On and Bleed | Go On and Bleed | J. Christian Hamilton | Sudbury |
| I Know I Can Fly | I Know I Can Fly | Matt Steeves | Temagami |
| Jerry Rigged | Jerry Rigged | Derek Diorio | North Bay |
| L'Orbit | L'Orbit | Thomas Walton | Timmins |
| My Authentic Self (A Journey with Art and Autism) | My Authentic Self (A Journey with Art and Autism) | Stéphane Ostrander | Dowling |
| Walter’s Room | Walter’s Room | Austin Lindsay | North Bay |
| When Little Johnny Sleeps | When Little Johnny Sleeps | Sabrina Wilson | Sudbury |