Sarah Toce
The Vancouver Queer Film Festival (VQFF) has announced the esteemed group of 2024 Award recipients. $57,500 CAD in cash and in-kind prizes will be distributed to 2SLGBTQIA+ filmmakers, with the highest accolades bestowed upon the RBC Narrative Change Award winner director Jules Rosskam (USA) for DESIRE LINES, who will receive a cash prize of $5,000 CAD, and the Gerry Brunet Memorial Award: Best British Columbia Short winner directors David Ng and Jen Sungshine for DRAG IS FOR EVERYONE, who will take home a cash prize of $2,500 CAD courtesy of the Directors Guild of Canada, BC as well as a $20,000 camera package prize from Keslow Camera and a $5,000 gear package from Cinelease.
The winner of the RBC Narrative Change Award winner is American director Jules Rosskam for DESIRE LINES, a liberating exploration of transmasculine sexuality that blends narrative and documentary forms. This award comes with a $5,000 cash prize and was determined by an international jury, honoring a Canadian or International feature film that uses the power of cultural strategy to overturn outdated narratives, inspire change, and expand the audience’s perception of 2SLGBTQIA+ identities. VQFF is grateful for their ongoing partnership with RBC and for their support of the Narrative Change Award.
The 2024 jurors for the RBC Narrative Change Award were Executive Director of Frameline Allegra Madsen, Director of Programming at NewFest Nick McCarthy, and actor, creator, producer Scott Turner Schofield. They said in a statement: “In the face of cultural and industrial pressures to tell expansive and marketable stories, queer and trans audiences are worthy of films that affirm and celebrate the intricacies of our intersectional identities, we deserve the films that reveal the multiple layers and revel in the prismatic light that defines our queerness. For its fearless ethics of and commitment to risk-taking – aesthetically, formally, thematically, and culturally – and for the depths of trans and queer sexuality that it artfully explores, we present DESIRE LINES from director Jules Rosskam with the RBC Narrative Change Award.”
VQFF’s annual prize for the Festival’s best BC short film, the Gerry Brunet Memorial Award: Best British Columbia Short was established in 1997 in recognition of Brunet, a lifelong contributor to the arts and an early board member of Out On Screen. This year, this prize was determined by audience vote. This year’s winners Ng and Sungshine previously won the Gerry Brunet Memorial Award in 2019 for Yellow Peril: Queer Destiny.
“The Directors Guild of Canada, British Columbia, is proud to sponsor the Gerry Brunet Memorial Award for Best British Columbia Short at the Vancouver Queer Film Festival. We would like to congratulate directors David Ng and Jen Sungshine, along with their Drag is for Everyone team, on winning the 2024 Gerry Brunet Memorial Award!” says Matthew Chipera, DGC BC Executive Board Chair.
“Keslow Camera has been passionate about supporting the next generation of filmmakers from our very inception. We believe that film sets should be inclusive, equitable, and diverse – just like the world that surrounds us every day. Through our work with Vancouver Queer Film Fest, we are proud to have had a direct impact on changing the face of the film industry, for the better, from within. We are honored to sponsor this year’s winner of the Gerry Brunet Memorial Award for Best British Columbia Short with a $20,000 camera package prize, we know the winner will craft something truly remarkable. Congratulations to all official selections, and to the People’s Choice winner: we’re ready to bring your vision to life,” says the Keslow Camera team.
An additional $25,000 CAD in cash and prizes will be distributed amongst the winners for this year’s People’s Choice Awards. The 2024 winners are:
The Canadian Feature winner is A MOTHER APART directed by Laurie Townshend, who will receive $2,500 cash prize supported by Canada Media Fund (CMF).
“What an honour it is to be the “People’s Choice”. A Mother Apart is as much a film about one inspirational mother figure as it is about all those who mother or have been mothered. It’s a film about all of us—and our capacity for grace and for healing in the face of wounding.” – Laurie Townshend, Director
The Canadian Short winner is JANELLE NILES: INCONVENIENT directed by Kelly Zemnickis and Cass Gardiner, who will receive $20,000 in-kind prize from Panavision and $2,500 in-kind prize in post-production services from Elemental.
“I am absolutely thrilled and so honoured that our film was selected for the Best Canadian Short! My hope with sharing Janelle’s story was simply that I wanted even more people to know about the incredible work she’s doing and all that Janelle has done since she first took the mic. That it’s been embraced by the VQFF audience like this is icing on the cake!!” – Kelly Zemnickis, co-director
The International Feature winner is VERA AND THE PLEASURE OF OTHERS (Vera y el placer de los otros) (Argentina) directed by Romina Tamburello, Federico Actis.
“Thank you for this wonderful award. It is wonderful for us to see how this story touches and identifies people of all ages and countries. This film was made possible by the great friendship and trust of those who make it. We believe that pleasure is not only a right but a search that we should never lose. Thank you for sharing this wish with us.” – the VERA AND THE PLEASURE OF OTHERS (Vera y el placer de los otros) team
The International Short winner is SEAT 31: ZOOEY ZEPHYR (USA) directed by Kimberly Reed.
VQFF thanks its generous partners for their support of our industry programming, including lead partner RBC Royal Bank; screening partners UBCP/ACTRA and the Canadian Media Producers Association, BC Producers Branch; premiere partners Canada Media Fund, Warner Bros. Discovery Access Canada, and Telefilm Canada; festival supporters IATSE 891 and Vancouver Film Studios; and award partners Directors Guild of Canada BC, Panavision Vancouver, and Keslow Camera.
Out In Schools, VQFF’s sibling program, has acquired seven films that screened at VQFF 2024 to add to our Film Catalogue. These films are available online to educators now and will be screened as a part of Out In Schools presentations in schools and communities across BC in the 2024-2025 school year and beyond.
DYEING FOR A POCKET (UK) dir. by Mairi Eyres
THE LITTLE PIRATEMAID (USA) dir. by Luke Beatrice
TO ALL THE WE ARE (USA) dir. By Kris Cahatol
BAY CREEK TENNIS CAMP (USA) dir. by Michele Meek
FORZA, REA (Switzerland) dir. by Isabel Pahud, Isabel Clerici, Laura Zimmermann, Polina Tyrsa
THE PRINCE’S DILEMMA (USA) dir. by Devin Rowe
DIRT PRIDE (USA) dir. by Christina Rosetti
