{"id":925097,"date":"2026-10-08T09:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T09:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/925097\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T09:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T09:04:10","slug":"vancouver-prizes-nina-rozain-the-heart-of-the-southhow-we-stand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/925097\/","title":{"rendered":"Vancouver Prizes: Nina Roza,”In the Heart of the South,”How We Stand"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tGenevi\u00e8ve Dulude-De Celles\u2019 \u201cNina Roza<\/a>,\u201d Nyla Innuksuk\u2019s \u201cIn the Heart of the South<\/a>\u201d and Marie Clements\u2019 \u201cHow We Stand<\/a>\u201d are among the films taking top honors at the 45th Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\n\tThe festival announced its 2026 juried awards winners on Wednesday night, recognizing films across its Summit, Horizon, Tides, Arbutus, Vanguard and Short Forum competitions.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Summit Award went to \u201cNina Roza,\u201d directed by Dulude-De Celles, which the jury praised for its compassionate exploration of the immigrant experience, identity and belonging. The film follows a protagonist returning to his hometown for the first time in 28 years, drawn back by the mystery surrounding a young artistic prodigy. \u201cWe all know what it\u2019s like to long for home,\u201d said the jury, \u201cWe were all enamored by this film\u2019s direction, authentic performances, stunning cinematography, and evocative music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIan Bawa\u2019s \u201cStrong Son\u201d snagged a special mention.<\/p>\n

\n\tFor the Horizon Award, the jury selected Nyla Innuksuk\u2019s \u201cIn the Heart of the South,\u201d describing the film as a \u201cstrong example of Canadian cinema.\u201d The jury praised its performances by Anna Lambe and Zorga Qaunaq and \u201cpolished cinematic approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNathan Donovan\u2019s \u201cClubfoot\u201d received the Horizon jury\u2019s special mention.<\/p>\n

\n\tBanchi Hanuse\u2019s \u201cCeremony\u201d scooped the The Tides Award for a feature about the disappearance of ooligan fish from Bella Coola and the Nuxalk Nation\u2019s efforts to protect and preserve its lands and waters. \u201cThrough beautiful cinematography and inventive storytelling, the film documents the strengths of community members consistently challenging the boundaries of imposed systems while drawing upon the resilience and generosity of their ancestors,\u201d the jury said.<\/p>\n

\n\tA special mention went to Carol Nguyen\u2019s \u201cStill Night, Burning House.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Arbutus Award, which recognizes British Columbia filmmaking, went to Marie Clements\u2019 \u201cHow We Stand,\u201d a story of sisters separated by tragedy. The film confronts \u201cdifficult and traumatic history by bringing it into vivid, real, human focus. Its surrealist style, deft storytelling, heart, and powerful heroines at once entertain, educate and demand self-reflection\u2014as individuals, and as a society,\u201d the jury noted.<\/p>\n

\n\tHayley Gray and Kaayla Whachell\u2019s \u201cSend the Rain\u201d won a special mention.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHear the Yellow,\u201d directed by Banu S\u0131vac\u0131, took the Vanguard Award kudos, praised for its \u201cremarkable depth,\u201d \u201coriginality,\u201d \u201csingular cinematic language\u201d and \u201cemotional precision,\u201d said the jury, stating that through \u201cbold character work and intelligent use of metaphor, it transports us into a vividly specific landscape while creating a powerful dialogue between rural and urban, and a family separated by time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSamuel Urbina\u2019s \u201cThat Shadow Fading\u201d received the Vanguard special mention.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Short Forum Award was adjudicated to \u201cPre-Parenting,\u201d an animated film by Taiwan-based filmmaker Yu Yu, with a special mention scored by Kamal Aljafari\u2019s \u201cGoing Home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe juried awards come as VIFF wraps its 45th edition on Oct. 11.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) 2026 Juries<\/p>\n

\n\tSummit Award: Rhia Aden, Nach Dudsdeemaytha, Caitlyn Sponheimer<\/p>\n

\n\tHorizon Award: Arjun Ayillath, Madeleine Davis, Michael Mann<\/p>\n

\n\tTides Award: Selwyn Jacob, Lyana Patrick, Jeff Lee Petry<\/p>\n

\n\tArbitus Award Jury: Josephine Anderson, Brenda Lieberman, David Taylor<\/p>\n

\n\tVanguard Award Jury: Joaquin Cardoner, Caroline Monnet, Sarah Shamash<\/p>\n

\n\tShort Film Award Jury: Tanvi Bhatia, Ariel Bond, Thanh Lieu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Genevi\u00e8ve Dulude-De Celles\u2019 \u201cNina Roza,\u201d Nyla Innuksuk\u2019s \u201cIn the Heart of the South\u201d and Marie Clements\u2019 \u201cHow We…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":925098,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,318072,318073,39098,55,211139,318074],"class_list":["post-925097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-how-we-stand","tag-in-the-heart-of-the-south","tag-nina-roza","tag-vancouver","tag-vancouver-film-festival","tag-viff"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=925097"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925097\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/925098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=925097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=925097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=925097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}