# 2023 Calgary International Film Festival

The 2023 edition of the Calgary International Film Festival, the 24th edition in the event's history, took place from September 21 to October 1, 2023 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
The festival opened with Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life, a documentary film by Dan Covert about Calgary-born artist Geoff McFetridge, and closed with Cody Lightning's comedy film Hey, Viktor!.

## Awards

In 2023, the festival introduced a new CA$5,000 juried prize for Best Canadian Narrative Feature sponsored by Air Canada, as a complement to its existing RBC Emerging Artist Award for first-time Canadian filmmakers. New filmmakers remained eligible for the RBC Award, while Canadian films by more established directors were eligible for the Air Canada award.
Juried award winners were announced on September 25, with audience-voted award winners announced at the conclusion of the festival.
| Award | Film | Filmmaker |
| Audience Choice Alberta Feature | Tales from the Rez | Colin Ahnahktsipiitaa Van Loon, Trevor Solway |
| Audience Choice Canadian Narrative Feature | Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant) | Ariane Louis-Seize |
| Audience Choice Canadian Documentary Feature | Summer Qamp | Jen Markowitz |
| Audience Choice International Narrative Feature | The Persian Version | Maryam Keshavarz |
| Audience Choice International Documentary Feature | Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life | Dan Covert |
| Audience Choice Late Shift | The Puppetman | Brandon Christensen |
| Audience Choice Generation Next | Aitamaako'tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun | Banchi Hanuse |
| Audience Choice Music on Screen | Immediate Family | Denny Tedesco |
| Audience Choice Special Presentations | The Old Oak | Ken Loach |
| Audience Choice Alberta Short | MONSTR | Tank Standing Buffalo |
| Audience Choice Narrative Short | Dead Cat (Chat mort) | Annie-Claude Caron, Danick Audet |
| Audience Choice Animated Short | Ninety-Five Senses | Jerusha Hess, Jared Hess |
| Audience Choice Documentary Short | Jack and Sam | Jordan Matthew Horowitz |
| Air Canada Canadian Narrative Feature | Suze | Dane Clark, Linsey Stewart |
| Air Canada Canadian Narrative Feature, Special Jury Citation | Suze | Charlie Gillespie (performance) |
| RBC Emerging Canadian Artist | Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant) | Ariane Louis-Seize |
| RBC Emerging Canadian Artist, Special Jury Citation | Asog | Seán Devlin |
| RBC Emerging Canadian Artist, Special Jury Citation | Hey, Viktor! | Cody Lightning |
| DGC Canadian Documentary Feature | Swan Song | Chelsea McMullan |
| DGC Canadian Documentary Feature, Special Jury Citation | Summer Qamp | Jen Markowitz |
| International Narrative Feature | Animalia (Parmi nous) | Sofia Alaoui |
| International Narrative Feature, Special Jury Citation | Close to You | Elliot Page (performance) |
| International Narrative Feature, Special Jury Citation | 20,000 Species of Bees (20.000 especies de abejas) | Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (direction) |
| International Documentary Feature | Between the Rains | Moses Thuranira, Andrew H. Brown |
| Short Film Grand Jury Prize | Palm Sunday | Wes Andre Goodrich |
| Devon Bolton Memorial Award | MONSTR | Tank Standing Buffalo |
| Youth by Youth Canada Short Film Award | Operation Carl | Sandra Hurd |
| Live Action Short Film | Death to the Bikini! (À mort le bikini!) | Justine Gauthier |
| Animated Short Film | Boat People | Thao Lam, Kjell Boersma |
| Documentary Short Film | The Last Repair Shop | Ben Proudfoot, Kris Bowers |
| Student Short Film | Simone | Aisha Amin |

## Official selections
### Canadian Narrative Competition

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| Asog | Asog | Seán Devlin | Canada |
| Fitting In | Fitting In | Molly McGlynn | Canada |
| Float | Float | Sherren Lee | Canada |
| Hey, Viktor! | Hey, Viktor! | Cody Lightning | Canada |
| Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant | Ariane Louis-Seize | Canada |
| I Don't Know Who You Are | I Don't Know Who You Are | M. H. Murray | Canada |
| I Used to Be Funny | I Used to Be Funny | Ally Pankiw | Canada |
| In Flames | In Flames | Zarrar Kahn | Canada |
| My Animal | My Animal | Jacqueline Castel | Canada |
| The Queen of My Dreams | The Queen of My Dreams | Fawzia Mirza | Canada |
| Red Rooms | Les Chambres rouges | Pascal Plante | Canada |
| Richelieu | Richelieu | Pier-Philippe Chevigny | Canada |
| Solo | Solo | Sophie Dupuis | Canada |
| Suze | Suze | Dane Clark, Linsey Stewart | Canada |
| Wild Goat Surf | Wild Goat Surf | Caitlyn Sponheimer | Canada |

### Canadian Documentary Competition

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| Aitamaako'tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun | Aitamaako'tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun | Banchi Hanuse | Canada |
| Close the Divide | Close the Divide | Tom Acton | Canada |
| Cover Your Ears | Cover Your Ears | Sean Patrick Shaul | Canada |
| Cynara | Cynara | Sherien Barsoum | Canada |
| I Lost My Mom | J'ai placé ma mère | Denys Desjardins | Canada |
| I'm Just Here for the Riot | I'm Just Here for the Riot | Kathleen Jayme, Asia Youngman | Canada |
| Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe | Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe | Robert McCallum | Canada |
| Subterranean | Subterranean | Francois-Xavier De Ruydts | Canada |
| Summer Qamp | Summer Qamp | Jen Markowitz | Canada |
| Swan Song | Swan Song | Chelsea McMullan | Canada |
| Unsyncable | Unsyncable | Megan Wennberg | Canada |
| We Will Be Brave | We Will Be Brave | Chrisann Hessing | Canada |

### International Narrative Competition

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| 20,000 Species of Bees | 20.000 especies de abejas | Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren | Spain |
| Animalia | Parmi nous | Sofia Alaoui | Morocco, France, Qatar |
| Benji's Hour | Benji's Hour | Gabriel Kahane | United States |
| Blaga's Lessons | Urotcite na Blaga | Stefan Komanderev | Bulgaria, Germany |
| Close to You | Close to You | Dominic Savage | Canada, United Kingdom |
| Elaha | Elaha | Milena Aboyan | Germany |
| Martínez | Martínez | Lorena Padilla | Mexico |
| The Mattachine Family | The Mattachine Family | Andy Vallentine | United States |
| The Other Widow | הפילגש | Maayan Rypp | France, Israel |
| The Persian Version | The Persian Version | Maryam Keshavarz | Turkey, United States |
| Riley | Riley | Benjamin Howard | United States |
| Tótem | Tótem | Lila Avilés | Mexico, Denmark, France |

### International Documentary Competition

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| Between the Rains | Between the Rains | Moses Thuranira, Andrew H. Brown | Kenya, United Kingdom |
| Break the Game | Break the Game | Jane M. Wagner | United States |
| Fantastic Machine | Fantastic Machine | Axel Danielson, Maximilien Van Aertryck | Denmark, Sweden |
| Four Daughters | بنات ألفة | Kaouther Ben Hania | France, Tunisia, Germany, Saudi Arabia |
| Going Varsity in Mariachi | Going Varsity in Mariachi | Alejandra Vasquez, Sam Osborn | United States |
| Great Photo, Lovely Life | Great Photo, Lovely Life | Amanda Mustard, Rachel Beth Anderson | United States |
| Jesszilla | Jesszilla | Emily Sheskin | United States |
| On the Adamant | Sur l'Adamant | Nicolas Philibert | France, Japan |
| Silver Dollar Road | Silver Dollar Road | Raoul Peck | United States |
| Smoke Sauna Sisterhood | Savvusanna sõsarad | Anna Hints | Estonia, France, Iceland |
| Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer | Werner Herzog: Radical Dreamer | Thomas von Steinaecker | Germany, United Kingdom |
| You Can Call Me Bill | You Can Call Me Bill | Alexandre O. Philippe | United States |

### Features not in competition

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| About Dry Grasses | Kuru Otlar Üstüne | Nuri Bilge Ceylan | Turkey, France, Germany, Sweden |
| Anatomy of a Fall | Anatomie d'une chute | Justine Triet | France |
| The Animal Kingdom | Le Règne animal | Thomas Cailley | France |
| Big Boys | Big Boys | Corey Sherman | United States |
| La Chimera | La Chimera | Alice Rohrwacher | Italy, France, Switzerland |
| The Delinquents | Los delincuentes | Rodrigo Moreno | Argentina, Brazil, Luxembourg, Chile |
| A Difficult Year | Une année difficile | Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache | France |
| Drop | Drop | Ramin Eshraghi-Yazdi | Canada |
| Dumb Money | Dumb Money | Craig Gillespie | United States |
| Evil Does Not Exist | 悪は存在しない | Ryûsuke Hamaguchi | Japan |
| Fallen Leaves | Kuolleet lehdet | Aki Kaurismäki | Finland, Germany |
| Faultline | Faultline | Anna Cooley | Canada |
| Hailey Rose | Hailey Rose | Sandi Somers | Canada |
| How to Have Sex | How to Have Sex | Molly Manning Walker | United Kingdom |
| How We Ended Us | How We Ended Us | Grant Harvey | Canada |
| If Only I Could Hibernate | Баавгай болохсон, Baavgai Bolohson | Zoljargal Purevdash | Mongolia |
| Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell | Bên trong vỏ kén vàng | Phạm Thiên Ân | Vietnam, Singapore, France, Spain |
| Isle of Hope | Isle of Hope | Damian Romay | United States |
| Jericho Ridge | Jericho Ridge | Will Gilbey | United Kingdom |
| Kidnapped | Rapito | Marco Bellocchio | Italy, France, Germany |
| Little Brother | Little Brother | Sheridan O'Donnell | United States |
| A Little Prayer | A Little Prayer | Angus MacLachlan | United States |
| Mayhem | Farang | Xavier Gens | France, Thailand |
| Monster | 怪物 | Hirokazu Kore-eda | Japan |
| The Old Oak | The Old Oak | Ken Loach | United Kingdom, France, Belgium |
| Peak Season | Peak Season | Steven Kanter, Henry Loevner | United States |
| 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, Germany, Sweden |
| The Puppetman | The Puppetman | Brandon Christensen | United States |
| Robot Dreams | Robot Dreams | Pablo Berger | Spain, France |
| Romi | Romi | Robert Cuffley | Canada |
| The Royal Hotel | The Royal Hotel | Kitty Green | Australia, United Kingdom |
| The Sacrifice Game | The Sacrifice Game | Jenn Wexler | United States |
| Seven Veils | Seven Veils | Atom Egoyan | Canada |
| Sleep | 잠 | Jason Yu | South Korea |
| The Teachers' Lounge | Das Lehrerzimmer | Ilker Çatak | Germany |
| The Ties That Bind | The Ties That Bind | James Reckseidler | Canada |
| Tótem | Tótem | Lila Avilés | Mexico, Denmark, France |
| Vincent Must Die | Vincent doit mourir | Stéphan Castang | France, Belgium |
| When Evil Lurks | Cuando acecha la maldad | Demián Rugna | Argentina |

### Documentaries not in competition

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| Anselm | Anselm – Das Rauschen der Zeit | Wim Wenders | Germany |
| Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life | Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life | Dan Covert | United States |
| Immediate Family | Immediate Family | Denny Tedesco | United States |
| Joan Baez: I Am a Noise | Joan Baez: I Am a Noise | Miri Navasky, Maeve O'Boyle, Karen O'Connor | United States |
| Kiss the Future | Kiss the Future | Nenad Cicin-Sain | Bosnia and Herzegovina, United States, Ireland |
| The Lebanese Burger Mafia | The Lebanese Burger Mafia | Omar Mouallem | Canada |
| Patria y Vida: The Power of Music | Patria y Vida: The Power of Music | Beatriz Luengo | Spain |
| They Shot the Piano Player | Dispararon al pianista | Fernando Trueba, Javier Mariscal | Spain, France, Netherlands |
| The Stones & Brian Jones | The Stones & Brian Jones | Nick Broomfield | United Kingdom |
| Without Leaving Anyone Behind | Without Leaving Anyone Behind | Sylvester Ndumbi | Canada |

### Episodic

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| Tales from the Rez | Tales from the Rez | Trevor Solway, Colin Ahnahktsipiitaa Van Loon | Canada |
| Telling Our Story | Telling Our Story | Kim O'Bomsawin | Canada |

### Shorts

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| 27 | 27 | Flóra Anna Buda | France, Hungary |
| 6 Minutes per Kilometre | 6 minutes/km | Catherine Boivin | Canada |
| At Last | At Last | Resmiye Emir | Turkey |
| Basri & Salma in a Never-Ending Comedy | Basri & Salma Dalam Komedi Yang Terus Berputar | Khozy Rizal | Indonesia |
| Beauty Visa | Beauty Visa | Kate He, Simeon Hu | United States |
| Between Earth & Sky | Between Earth & Sky | Andrew Nadkarni | United States |
| Blond Night | Nuit blonde | Gabrielle Demers | Canada |
| Boat People | Boat People | Thao Lam, Kjell Boersma | Canada |
| The Breakthrough | The Breakthrough | Daniel Sinclair | United States |
| Calf | Calf | Jamie O'Rourke | Ireland |
| Catherine & Michael | Catherine & Michael | Kathy Fusco | United States |
| Chemical Somnia | Chemical Somnia | Scott Portingale | Canada |
| Christopher at Sea | Christopher at Sea | Tom CJ Brown | France |
| Closing Dynasty | Closing Dynasty | Lloyd Lee Choi | United States |
| Coaching While Black | Coaching While Black | Alex Eskandarkhah | Canada |
| Coddle No More | Coddle No More | Nicholas Bentgen | United States |
| Conviction | Conviction | Bruce Thomas Miller | Canada |
| Counter Clockwise | Counter Clockwise | Roman Shipley | Canada |
| Dead Cat | Chat mort | Annie-Claude Caron, Danick Audet | Canada |
| Death & Ramen | Death & Ramen | Tiger Ji | United States |
| Death to the Bikini! | À mort le bikini! | Justine Gauthier | Canada |
| Detour | Detour | Kargo Chen | Hong Kong |
| Dicks That I Like | Dicks That I Like | Johanna Gustin | Germany |
| Don't Come In...Yet | Don't Come In...Yet | Isaac Elliott | Australia |
| Eeva | Eeva | Lucija Mrzljak, Morten Tšinakov | Croatia, Estonia |
| The Family Portrait | The Family Portrait | Lea Vidakovic | Croatia, France, Serbia |
| The Firefighter's Ball | Le Bal des pompoers | Baptiste Drapeau | France |
| Fishmonger | Fishmonger | Neil Ferron | United States |
| The Gateway | The Gateway | Kamala Parel-Nuttall | Canada |
| The Girl with the Red Beret | The Girl with the Red Beret | Janet Perlman | Canada |
| Go for Gold | Go for Gold | John Torres | Canada |
| Grill | Grill | Jade Hærem Aksnes | Norway |
| Hide Your Crazy | Hide Your Crazy | Austin Kase | United States |
| High End Dying | High End Dying | Helen Liu | Canada |
| Hiraeth | Hiraeth | Emma McDonald | Canada |
| Hit Man: Secrets of Lies | Hit Man: Secrets of Lies | Elias Plagianos | United States |
| Hooks | Les crochets | Charles Parisé | Canada |
| Human Resources | Ressources humaines | Trinidad Plass, Titouan Tillier, Isaac Wenzek | France |
| I Have No Tears and I Must Cry | I Have No Tears and I Must Cry | Luis Fernando Puente | United States |
| In the Heat | In the Heat | Sam Chou | Canada |
| It's a Date | It's a Date | Nadia Parfan | Ukraine |
| Jack and Sam | Jack and Sam | Jordan Matthew Horowitz | United States |
| Jinn Julian | Jinn Julian | Jae Sterling | Canada |
| The Key to the Heart of Time | The Key to the Heart of Time | MJ Hansen | Canada |
| A Kind of Testament | A Kind of Testament | Stephen Vuillemin | France |
| Kolaj | Kolaj | Gülce Besen Dilek | Germany |
| Konpa | Konpa | Al'Ikens Plancher | United States |
| Lo-Tech Reality | Lo-Tech Reality | Guillermo Garcia Lopez | Spain |
| Losing Blue | Losing Blue | Leanne Allison | Canada |
| Making Money in Manitou, Manitoba | Making Money in Manitou, Manitoba | Austin Ladouceur | Canada |
| Mine | Mine | Esabella Strickland | Canada |
| Monstr | Monstr | Tank Standing Buffalo | Canada |
| My Eyes Are Up Here | My Eyes Are Up Here | Nathan Morris | United Kingdom |
| Mystic Tiger | Mystic Tiger | Marc Martínez Jordán | Spain |
| Nai Nai & Wai Po: Grandma & Grandma | Nai Nai & Wai Po: Grandma & Grandma | Sean Wang | United States |
| Nian | Nian | Michelle Krusiec | United States |
| Ninety-Five Senses | Ninety-Five Senses | Jerusha Hess, Jared Hess | United States |
| No More Kîyâm | No More Kîyâm | Lese Skidmore | Canada |
| Noodles Forever | Noodles Forever | McKinley Carlin | United States |
| Okem | Okem | Joshua Okwuosa | Nigeria, United States |
| Old Dragon Man | Old Dragon Man | Douglas Cook | Canada |
| Only You | Only You | James David Duric | Canada |
| Operation Carl | Operation Carl | Sandra Rachel Hurd | Canada |
| The Orchestra Chuck Built | The Orchestra Chuck Built | Christopher Stoudt | United States |
| Overtime | Overtime | Jenny Lee-Gilmore | Canada |
| Pacific Bell | Pacific Bell | Sandrine Béchade | Canada |
| Palm Sumday | Palm Sumday | Wes Andre Goodrich | United States |
| Piece by Piece | Piece by Piece | Reza Rasouli | Austria |
| Poof | Poof | Margaret Miller | United States |
| Power Signal | Power Signal | Oscar Boyson | United States |
| Pussy Love | Pussy Love | Linda Krauss | Germany |
| Rise of Afrobeats in the Prairies | Rise of Afrobeats in the Prairies | Fahad Suleiman | Canada |
| Salopica | Salopica | Serenella Sol, Callum McCormack | Canada |
| Shadow Brother Sunday | Shadow Brother Sunday | Alden Ehrenreich | United States |
| Simone | Simone | Aisha Amin | United States |
| Soleil de nuit | Soleil de nuit | Fernando Lopez Escriva, Maria Camila Arias | Canada |
| The Soup | The Soup | John Torres | Canada |
| The Sperm Bank | The Sperm Bank | Margaux Susi | United States |
| Suzy Makes Cupcakes | Suzy Makes Cupcakes | Jayson Therrien | Canada |
| The Syrian Cosmonaut | The Syrian Cosmonaut | Charles Emir Richards | Turkey |
| Third Wheel | Third Wheel | Kevin Haefelin | Japan, Switzerland |
| Tiny | Tiny | Ritchie Hemphill, Ryan Haché | Canada |
| Two One Two | Two One Two | Shira Avni | Quebec |
| Unveiled Traditions | Unveiled Traditions | Lili Yas Tayefi | Canada |
| Wave Rider | Wave Rider | Dustin Chok | Canada |
| Well Wishes My Love, Your Love | Well Wishes My Love, Your Love | Gabriel Gabriel Garble | Malaysia, Sweden |
| White Ant | White Ant | Shalini Adnani | India, United Kingdom |
| Yellowbird | Yellowbird | Tsvetelina Zdraveva, Jerred North | United States |
| Zip | Zip | Ava Maria Safai | Canada |

### Special Experiences

| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production country |
| Heartland Special gala screening of episode #250 | Heartland Special gala screening of episode #250 | Dean Bennett | Canada |
| How to Fail as a Popstar with Q&A and musical performance by Vivek Shraya | How to Fail as a Popstar with Q&A and musical performance by Vivek Shraya | Vanessa Matsui | Canada |
| The Hunchback of Notre Dame with new live score by Chad VanGaalen | The Hunchback of Notre Dame with new live score by Chad VanGaalen | Wallace Worsley | United States |
| Smoke Signals retrospective screening linked to competition title Hey, Viktor! | Smoke Signals retrospective screening linked to competition title Hey, Viktor! | Chris Eyre | United States |