Calgary International Film Festival 2014 - CIFF 2014 Awards & Closing

Posted on Thursday, October 02, 2014 at 01:00 PM

Calgary International Film Festival 2014 Awards & Closing

by CalgaryMovies.com

It's a wrap!

A staggering record year for the Calgary International Film Festival (CIFF) as we end the 11-day film marathon here in Calgary.It's a fitting end to for the 15th year anniversary of our flagship film festival in Calgary, with banner attendance statistics showing that over 25,000 cinema lovers watched the almost 200 features, gala, docs, and short films during the festival.

We personally had a great time at the festival this year, impressed by the lineups to the sold out films and in fact, agreeing that this was the best CIFF to date. Very well organized compared to past years, it's no wonder that audiences came out in droves to catch some of the exclusive film premieres, galas, and new experiential programming. The experiential programming was a big highlight, having live musicians, characters, and artists, perform for audiences in lineups or in the theatre prior to the screening made the films more of an event, rather than just going to catch a movie.

There are a number of awards that CIFF hands out each year to the films that are entered in the festival. Here are the 2014 award winners:

Discovery Awards Winners (First Time Filmmakers)

Best First Narrative Feature Winner: When the Ocean Met the Sky directed by Lukas Huffman
Best First Documentary Feature Winner: Queens & Cowboys: A Straight Year on the Gay Rodeo directed by Matt Livadary

Audience Choice Awards Winners (Determined by Audience Votes)

Best Narrative Feature: Whiplash
Best Documentary Feature: Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story
Best Live Action or Documentary Short: The Old Trout Puppet Workshop: From Naughty to Nice
Best Animated Short: Yearbook

Enbridge Alberta Spirit Award Winner (Best in Alberta Short Filmmaking)

Winner: One Night in Aberdeen

YYC Awards (Youth by Youth Cinema) Film Competition Winners (Most Outstanding Shorts)

Best Narrative: Gifts
Best Animation: Lilly's Big Day
Best Overall Short: Panic

Best Overall Short Film Award (Best of Shorts)

Winner: One Night in Aberdeen

Audience Selected Encores:

The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet
Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story
The Valley Below
Advanced Style
Pride
Foxcatcher

See the entire list of winners and top films of the festival: CIFF 2014 Awards >

CIFF President James Pettigrew introduction

Executive Director Steve Schroeder presenting the CIFF 2014 Awards