# Abitibi-Témiscamingue International Film Festival

The Abitibi-Témiscamingue International Film Festival (French: Festival du cinéma international en Abitibi-Témiscamingue) is an annual film festival which takes place in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, Canada. It presents a program of Canadian and international films in late October and early November each year.
The festival was launched in 1982. It was an expansion of the Semaine du cinéma régional, a festival launched in 1977 which concentrated exclusively on films made in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region.
Festival programmer Anne-France Thibault has compared it to the Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival, in that both festivals became popular cultural events and important stops on the Canadian film festival circuit despite having been launched in blue-collar mining communities removed from Canada's traditional cultural meccas.
While the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada forced nearly all other Canadian film festivals to either cancel their 2020 programs or shift to an online streaming model, the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region's very low rate of COVID-19 cases made it one of the few film festivals in the country that was able to hold physical screenings. Despite the reduced risk, social distancing protocols, including mandatory masks, sanitizer stations and reduced audience sizes, were still maintained for audience safety.

## Awards
### Grand Prix Hydro-Québec

The Grand Prix Hydro-Québec is presented to the film that was voted the most popular by audiences.
| Year | Film | Director |
| 1983 | The Taste of Water (De smaak van water) | Orlow Seunke |
| 1984 | The Dog Who Stopped the War (La Guerre des tuques) | André Melançon |
| 1985 | Rocking Silver | Erik Clausen |
| 1986 | Bach and Broccoli (Bach et Bottine) | André Melançon |
| 1987 | Night Zoo (Un zoo la nuit) | Jean-Claude Lauzon |
| 1988 | Salut Victor | Anne Claire Poirier |
| 1989 | Jesus of Montreal (Jésus de Montréal) | Denys Arcand |
| 1990 | Princes in Exile | Giles Walker |
| 1991 | L'Homme de rêve | Robert Ménard |
| 1992 | Anna's Garden (Le jardin d'Anna) | Alain Chartrand |
| 1993 | The Engagement (Les Fiancés de la tour Eiffel) | Gilles Blais |
| 1994 | To Live | Zhang Yimou |
| 1995 | Water Child (L'Enfant d'eau) | Robert Ménard |
| 1996 | The Eighth Day (Le huitième jour) | Jaco Van Dormael |
| 1997 | Marius and Jeannette | Robert Guédiguian |
| 1998 | Life Is Beautiful (La vita è bella) | Roberto Benigni |
| 1999 | Memories Unlocked (Souvenirs intimes) | Jean Beaudin |
| 2000 | Shower | Zhang Yang |
| 2001 | Italian for Beginners | Lone Scherfig |
| 2002 | Chaos and Desire (La Turbulence des fluides) | Manon Briand |
| 2003 | Strange Gardens (Effroyables jardins) | Jean Becker |
| 2004 | Villa Paranoia | Erik Clausen |
| 2005 | Merry Christmas (Joyeux Noël) | Christian Carion |
| 2006 | The Little Book of Revenge (Le Guide de la petite vengeance) | Jean-François Pouliot |
| 2006 | April in Love (Avril) | Gérald Hustache-Mathieu |
| 2007 | Emma's Bliss | Sven Taddicken |
| 2008 | Trisomie 21: Le défi Pérou | Lisette Marcotte |
| 2009 | The Over the Hill Band (Meisjes) | Geoffrey Enthoven |
| 2010 | Oxygen (Adem) | Hans Van Nuffel |
| 2011 | Monsieur Lazhar | Philippe Falardeau |
| 2012 | What's in a Name? (Le Prénom) | Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte |
| 2013 | Time of My Life (Tot altijd) | Nic Balthazar |
| 2014 | Whiplash | Damien Chazelle |
| 2015 | Brooklyn | John Crowley |
| 2016 | Maudie | Aisling Walsh |
| 2017 | Mr. Stein Goes Online (Un profil pour deux) | Stéphane Robelin |
| 2018 | Woman at War | Benedikt Erlingsson |
| 2019 | The Wolfdogs (Les chiens-loups) | Dominic Leclerc |
| 2020 | Heroic Losers (La odisea de los Giles) | Sebastián Borensztein |
| 2021 | Forgotten We'll Be (El olvido que seremos) | Fernando Trueba |
| 2022 | You Will Remember Me (Tu te souviendras de moi) | Éric Tessier |
| 2023 | Tell Me Why These Things Are So Beautiful (Dis-moi pourquoi ces choses sont si belles) | Lyne Charlebois |
| 2024 | Prodigieuses | Frédéric Potier, Valentin Potier |

### Prix Crave

The Prix Crave, formerly the Télébec Prize, is a juried award presented to a film judged as the best short or mid-length film of the festival.
| Year | Film | Director |
| 1985 | Le Film d'Arianne | Josée Beaudet |
| 1986 | Sonia | Paule Baillargeon |
| 1987 | The Man Who Planted Trees (L'homme qui plantait des arbres) | Frédéric Back |
| 1988 | Sortie 234 | Michel Langlois |
| 1989 | L'Humeur à l'humour | Nicole Giguère, Michèle Pérusse |
| 1990 | Nuits d'Afrique | Catherine Martin |
| 1991 | 67 bis, boulevard Lannes | Jean-Claude Labrecque |
| 1992 | L'Année qui change la vie | Suzanne Guy |
| 1993 | Ménage | Pierre Salvadori |
| 1994 | Act Naturally (Gull og grønne skoger) | Harald Zwart |
| 1995 | Yoidore Jirohachi | Tsukuru Imanishi |
| 1996 | 35 Aside | Damien O'Donnell |
| 1997 | Ernest and the Light (Ernst og Lyset) | Tomas Villum Jensen |
| 1998 | No Problem | Eva Colmers |
| 1999 | Kuproquo | Jean-François Rivard |
| 2000 | Echo | Frédéric Roullier-Gall |
| 2001 | Il parle avec les loups | Carlos Ferrand Zavala |
| 2002 | Tiro de gracia | Mario Mandujano, Jesus Ochoa |
| 2003 | Merci | Christine Rabette |
| 2004 | 7:35 de la mañana | Nacho Vigalondo |
| 2005 | Un charter pour les étoiles | Philippe Levasseur |
| 2006 | Bawke | Hisham Zaman |
| 2007 | Salvador | Abdelatif Hwidar |
| 2008 | Next Floor | Denis Villeneuve |
| 2009 | Léger problème | Hélène Florent |
| 2010 | Beast | Lars Pedersen Arendt |
| 2011 | L'Accordeur | Olivier Treiner |
| 2012 | Curfew | Shawn Christensen |
| 2013 | Penny Dreadful | Shane Atkinson |
| 2014 | Life's a Bitch (Toutes des connes) | François Jaros |
| 2015 | Père | Lotfi Achour |
| 2016 | Stanley Vollant: De Compostelle à Kuujjuaq | Simon C. Vaillancourt |
| 2017 | Baggage (Bagages) | Paul Tom |
| 2018 | Trois pages | Roger Gariépy |
| 2019 | Le Défi | Mélissa Major |
| 2020 | Shooting Star (Comme une comète) | Ariane Louis-Seize |
| 2021 | Still Fighting (Se battre encore) | Arthur Lecouturier |
| 2022 | Ma gueule | Thibaut Wohlfahrt, Grégory Carnoli |
| 2023 | Making Babies (Faire un enfant) | Éric K. Boulianne |
| 2024 | Le petit panier à roulettes | Laurence Ly |

### Prix Télé-Québec

The Télé-Québec Volet Espace Court Prize is an audience award presented to the short film by a Quebec director voted most popular with audiences.
| Year | Film | Director |
| 2005 | Radio | Patrick Boivin |
| 2006 | Terreur au 3918 | Mathieu Fontaine |
| 2007 | Le petit terrorisme | Pierre-Mathieu Fortin |
| 2008 | Chronos | Kristian Manchester |
| 2009 | Danse Macabre | Pedro Pires |
| 2010 | La Guérison | Louis-Thomas Pelletier |
| 2011 | Life and Death of Yul Brynner | Jean-Marc E. Roy, Philippe David Gagné |
| 2012 | La Faim | François Charette |
| 2013 | Remember Me (Mémorable moi) | Jean-François Asselin |
| 2014 | Little Brother (Petit frère) | Rémi St-Michel |
| 2015 | Un roadtrip à l’envers | Pierre-Étienne Bordeleau |
| 2016 | Une formalité | Pierre-Marc Drouin, Simon Lamarre-Ledoux |
| 2017 | Garage at Night (Garage de soir) | Daniel Daigle |
| 2018 | Lunar-Orbit Rendezvous | Mélanie Charbonneau |
| 2019 | Le Pigeon | William Mazzoleni |
| 2020 | Found Me | David Findlay |
| 2021 | Opération Carcajou | Nicolas Krief |
| 2022 | The Temple (Le Temple) | Alain Fournier |
| 2023 | Death to the Bikini! (À mort le bikini!) | Justine Gauthier |
| 2024 | Wild Flowers (Les Fleurs sauvages) | Rodolphe Saint-Gelais, Thierry Sirois |

### TVA Animation Prize

The TVA Animation Prize is an audience award presented to the most popular animated film. The award is most commonly given to shorts, but animated feature films are also eligible if screened at the festival.
| Year | Film | Director |
| 1988 | The Cat Came Back | Cordell Barker |
| 1989 | Juke-Bar | Martin Barry |
| 1990 | Eternity | Sheryl Sardina |
| 1991 | Light & Heavy and Surprise | John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton |
| 1992 | Adam | Peter Lord |
| 1993 | The Wrong Trousers | Nick Park |
| 1994 | Bob's Birthday | Alison Snowden, David Fine |
| 1995 | Pat & Mat: The Billiards | Lubomír Beneš |
| 1996 | A Close Shave | Nick Park |
| 1997 | Puss in Boots (Кот в сапогах) | Garri Bardin |
| 1998 | Ludovic: The Snow Gift | Co Hoedeman |
| 1999 | Kirikou and the Sorceress (Kirikou et la sorcière) | Michel Ocelot |
| 2000 | Media | Pavel Koutsky |
| 2001 | The Shark and the Piano | Gabriele Pennacchioli |
| 2002 | Trim Time | Gil Alkabetz |
| 2003 | Oïo | Simon Goulet |
| 2004 | Panthoffelhelden | Suzanne Seidel |
| 2005 | Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit | Steve Box, Nick Park |
| 2006 | Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest | Michel Ocelot |
| 2007 | Lapsus | Juan Pablo Zaramella |
| 2008 | Mia and the Migoo (Mia et le Migou) | Jacques-Rémy Girerd |
| 2009 | The Happy Duckling | Gili Dolev |
| 2010 | Bob | Harry Fast, Jacob Frey |
| 2011 | En la opéra | Juan Pablo Zaramella |
| 2012 | Ernest & Celestine | Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, Benjamin Renner |
| 2013 | Beerbug | Ander Mendia |
| 2014 | Bus Story (Histoires de bus) | Tali Prévost |
| 2015 | Tigres à la queue leu leu | Benoît Chieux |
| 2016 | Changeover | Mehdi Alibeygi |
| 2017 | The Jungle Bunch (Les As de la jungle) | David Alaux |
| 2018 | Animal Behaviour | Alison Snowden, David Fine |
| 2019 | Tangle | Malileh Gholamzade |
| 2020 | Athleticus: Une patinoire pour deux | Nicolas Deveaux |
| 2021 | Migrants | Hugo Caby, Zoé Devise, Antoine Dupriez, Aubin Kubiak, Lucas Lermytte |
| 2022 | Canary | Pierre-Hugues Dallaire, Benoit Therriault |
| 2023 | Pig | Jorn Leeuwering |
| 2024 | Maybe Elephants (Peut-être des éléphants) | Torill Kove |

### Médiafilm Robert-Claude Bérubé Prize

The Médiafilm Robert-Claude Bérubé Prize is presented to a film distinguished by themes of moral, social and ethical values.
| Year | Film | Director |
| 2005 | Merry Christmas (Joyeux Noël) | Christian Carion |
| 2006 | Azur & Asmar: The Princes' Quest | Michel Ocelot |
| 2007 | Michou d'Auber | Thomas Gilou |
| 2008 | Trisomie 21 / Le défi Pérou | Lisette Marcotte |
| 2009 | The Legacy (La Donation) | Bernard Émond |
| 2010 | Of Gods and Men (Des hommes et des dieux) | Xavier Beauvois |
| 2011 | Monsieur Lazhar | Philippe Falardeau |
| 2012 | All That You Possess (Tout ce que tu possèdes) | Bernard Émond |
| 2013 | Offline | Peter Monsaert |
| 2014 | Geronimo | Tony Gatlif |
| 2015 | Hotel La Louisiane | Michel La Veaux |
| 2016 | Tuktuq | Robin Aubert |
| 2017 | Burn Out, or The Voluntary Servitude (Burn Out ou La Servitude Volontaire) | Michel Jetté |
| 2018 | Happy Face | Alexandre Franchi |
| 2019 | Papicha | Mounia Meddour |
| 2020 | Los Lobos | Samuel Kishi Leopo |
| 2021 | France | Bruno Dumont |
| 2022 | Boy from Heaven | Tarik Saleh |
| 2023 | Atikamekw Suns (Soleils Atikamekw) | Chloé Leriche |
| 2024 | Souleymane's Story (L'Histoire de Souleymane) | Boris Lojkine |

### Prix SPIRA

The Prix SPIRA, presented for the first time in 2019, is a juried award for short films, whose prize from the SPIRA filmmaking cooperative is $10,000 in equipment and post-production services toward a future project.
| Year | Film | Director |
| 2019 | I'll End Up in Jail (Je finirai en prison) | Alexandre Dostie |
| 2020 | Regret | Santiago Meng |
| 2021 | Like the Ones I Used to Know (Les Grandes claques) | Annie St-Pierre |
| 2022 | Municipal Relaxation Module | Matthew Rankin |

### Prix Vital

| Year | Film | Director | Ref |
| 2023 | A Kind of Testament | Stephen Vuillemin | |
| 2024 | Mercenaire | Pier-Philippe Chevigny | |

### Relève Desjardins

The Relève Desjardins is a $2,000 bursary presented for short local films made by students at the Cégep de l'Abitibi-Témiscamingue and the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue.
| Year | Film | Director |
| 2008 | Un pick-up à Rouyn – Carnet de voyage de Liu Ben | Julien Pierre Arsenault, Marika Jacob, Maude Labrecque-Denis, Simon Lapierre, David Marcotte, Jérémie Monderie-Larouche, Frédérick Pelletier, Jean-Robert Simard |
| 2009 | Chlorophylle | Valérie Gauron, Marika Jacob, Simon Lapierre, Qin Wang, Yun Wang, Yi Yang, Xiao-Xu Xhu |
| 2010 | Keep on Trucking | Rémi Adam-Richer, Alex Beauchemin |
| 2011 | Robin dans la lune | Martine Gauthier-Vallières, Christina Huard, Annie Roussel |
| 2012 | Lutherie sauvage | Andréane Boulanger, Jean-François Perron |
| 2013 | Pour l’amour de la boxe | Marion Gasqui, Antoine Hache |
| 2014 | Contribution volontaire | Hélène Théberge |
| 2015 | Vie et mort d’un objet usuel | Simon Descôteaux, Valentin Foch, Martin Laroche, Gabriel Tardif |
| 2016 | Octobre | Alison Fortin, Samy Girard, Vicky Lavoie |
| 2017 | Mélisse et Citronnelle | Alex Alisich |
| 2017 | Fidèle | Sophie Chaffaut, Jan Declerck |
| 2018 | Je déteste ma vie | Adam Moreau, Simon Roberge, Shany Lanoix |
| 2018 | Réflexion | Cyprien Jeancolas |
| 2019 | M. Richard | Didier Belzile, Roxanne St-Arneault |
| 2019 | Crise de calme | Camille Corbeil, Mélodie Charbonneau-Demers, Ariane Lafrenière |
| 2020 | Drought | Mia Salera, Félix Caouette |
| 2020 | L’apocalypse confortable | Antoine Girard |
| 2021 | En 8 temps | Magali Ouimet |
| 2021 | La livraison | Maxim-Olivier Lavallée |
| 2022 | A Lost Child | Max Spiegel |
| 2022 | Toxique | Anahée Brousseau |
| 2023 | Quitter le jardin | Mathis Anger, Alec Gendron |
| 2023 | Psyché | Léonie Beusquart |
| 2024 | Corrosion | Manon Lefébure |
| 2024 | Silentium | Alex Nolan |

### Prix Fonds Bell

Prize for web series.
| Year | Film | Director |
| 2021 | Je voudrais qu’on m’efface | Éric Piccoli |
| 2021 | Meilleur avant | Laura Bergeron, Maxime Robin |
| 2022 | Caresses magiques | Lori Malépart-Traversy |
| 2022 | Complètement Lycée | Alec Pronovost |
| 2023 | Maisonneuve | Jean-Martin Gagnon |
| 2023 | Symphone pathétique | Alec Pronovost |
| 2024 | La Dernière communion | Eli Jean Tahchi |

### Prix Unis TV

| Year | Film | Director |
| 2022 | Blond Night (Nuit blonde) | Gabrielle Demers |
| 2023 | Heat Spell (L'Été des chaleurs) | Marie-Pier Dupuis |
| 2024 | The Second-to-Last Time I Pooped My Pants (L'avant-dernière fois que j'ai fait caca dans mes culottes) | Sébastien Landry |

### Prix Jeunesse Fonderie Horne

| Year | Film | Director |
| 2021 | Migrants | Hugo Caby, Zoé Devise, Antoine Dupriez, Aubin Kubiak and Lucas Lermytte |
| 2022 | Kayak | Solène Bosseboeuf |
| 2023 | Le temps des orages | Gabrielle Gingras |