GFF 2019 Best of Fest - Audience Choice & Grand Jury Prize
GFF Audience Audience Choice:
GFF pleased to present 2019's Best of Fest - Audience Choice award presented by Outlet Collection Winnipeg to nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up (dir. Tasha Hubbard)! GFF film fans ranked this film the highest at this year's Festival!The winner of this year’s Audience Choice Award was not only loved by GFF audiences, but it was also completely adored by the GFF Programming Team. It’s a film that every Canadian must-see!Best of Fest - Audience Choice will screen at 5:30 p.m. at the Gimli Theatre.
GFF Grand Jury Prize:
The winner of this year’s GFF Grand Jury Prize is also an international documentary film -- Midnight Family! This film follows the Ochoa family, who own and operate an independent for-profit ambulance in Mexico City. In this morally ambiguous middle-ground between public and private sectors in the Mexican health industry, the Ochoas operate through the night, racing through the streets. The blistering chase scenes of this film – usually races against rival ambulances with a 17-year-old at the wheel – are more reminiscent of Grand Theft Auto than of real life. The more intense and traumatic scenes are contrasted beautifully with the working-class reality of Mexico City and of the lives of the Ochoas. Some laughs with the family, some tough times making ends meet, a shakedown by the cops and always waiting for the calls to come in.GFF Grand Jury Prize screens at 3 p.m. at Aspire Theatre.We decided to offer an honourable mention to a film that has already garnered an impressive list of awards and recognitions. The GFF Programming Committee would like to offer For Sama a special honourable mention for its important and eye-opening portrait of a mother’s first-hand account of the Syrian war.Honourable mention GFF Grand Jury Prize screens at 8 p.m. at Aspire Theatre!
GFF Best Canadian Feature Film:
The winner of this year’s GFF Best Canadian Feature Film - sponsored by Al Shell - was When the Storm Fades by Sean Devlin.When the Storm Fades is a deeply touching and relevant piece of on-the-ground cinema activism. Engaging a vulnerable and dispossessed community, director Sean Devlin uses his personal connection to a people left without voice to give them one, here making this film in responsible collaboration. Through great humor and humanity, this film reminds us of the human face of climate devastation and offers a path towards change. We are extremely honored to be able to champion a film that is not only Canadian, but also Filipino, as it is such an integral part of our shared Manitoban culture.