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Films Just Eat It, Violent amongst VIFF Canadian award winners: photos

Grant Balwin won the screening spot at the BC Spotlight Gala and the VIFF Impact Award for his ground-breaking film Just Eat it, about the excessive waste of edible food.

Last night, the Vancouver International Film Festival announced the lucky Canadian film award winners at the Vancouver Playhouse. 

The BC Spotlight Gala film (and winner of the Audience Must See Award) was Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story by Grant Baldwin. In the film, Baldwin and producer Jen Rustemeyer swear off groceries and attempt to subside on discarded food for six months. The documentary that shows Balwin and Rustemeyer’s efforts to produce zero food waste also earned the VIFF Impact Award.

The award for the best BC Emerging Filmmaker Award went to Ana Valine for her film Sitting on the Edge of Marlene.

Meanwhile, Violent by Andrew Huculiaks took two awards home, Best BC Film and Best Canadian Film. "A film about loneliness in an ordinary life."

The Most Promising Director of a Canadian Short Film was The Cut, a film revolving around a fluctuating father-daughter relationship during the time of a haircut, by Geneviève Dulude-Decelles.

The jurors of the different awards were as follows:

Canadian Images jurors: John Cassini (Co-Artistic Director, Railtown Actors Studio), Peter Machen (Manager, Dublin International Film Festival, Film Columnist, Sunday Tribune), and Gaylene Preston (Director, Hope and Wire)

BC Spotlight jurors: Joel Bakan (Co-creator, The Corporation), Cathy Chilco (Producer/Director, Sesame Street), and Bruce Sweeney (Director, Live Bait and The Dick Knost Show).

VIFF Impact Award: David Rummel (Assistant Professor, UBC Graduate School of Journalism), Lynne Fernie (Senior Canadian Images Programmer, Hot Docs), and Julia Ivanova (Director, Family Portrait in Black and White). 

Jacqueline Dupuis, VIFF's executive director.

Actor and director, Tony Pantages.

 

 Jen Rustemeyer and Grant Baldwin.

 

 

 Andrew Huculiaks (centre) .

 

Terry McEvoy, VIFF's Canadian Images director of programming

 

 Winner Ana Valine.

 

Filmmakers Julia Kwan and Ana Valine at the Blackbird. Kwan earned an Honourable Mention for her documentary Everything Will Be.

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