The Vancouver International Film Festival Award for Best Canadian Film is an annual award, presented by the Vancouver International Film Festival to honour the film selected by a jury as the best Canadian film screened at VIFF that year.
The award was presented for the first time in 2003. It was initially open only to films from Western Canada, but was expanded in 2009 to include all Canadian films.
Winners YearFilmDirectorRef.2003 On the Corner Nathaniel Geary"Kamchatka earns kudos at Vancouver film festival". The Globe and Mail, October 13, 2003.2004 Seven Times Lucky Gary YatesIan Edwards, "Surging VIFF breaks $1M barrier". Playback, October 25, 2004.2005 Lucid Sean GarrityKen Eisner, "VIFF voters back local Horse". The Georgia Straight, October 20, 2005.2006 Everything's Gone Green Paul FoxAlexandra Gill, "VIFF winners". The Globe and Mail, October 14, 2006.2007 Normal Carl BessaiAdele Weder, "Vancouver fest wraps, hands out awards". The Hollywood Reporter, October 14, 2007.2008 Fifty Dead Men Walking Kari SkoglandFiona Morrow, "Film fest honours the best in the West". The Globe and Mail, October 11, 2008.2009 I Killed My Mother (J'ai tué ma mère) Xavier Dolan 2010 Incendies Denis Villeneuve Marsha Lederman, "Villeneuve's Incendies wins Best Canadian Film at VIFF". The Globe and Mail, October 15, 2010. Curling Denis Côté 2011 Nuit #1 Anne Émond Etan Vlessing, "VIFF 2011: Anne Emond’s Nuit #1 wins top jury prize". Playback, October 17, 2011. Wetlands (Marécages) Guy Édoin 2012 Blackbird Jason Buxton Jordan Twiss, "Buxton’s Blackbird wins at VIFF". Playback, October 15, 2012. Becoming Redwood Jesse James Miller2013 Rhymes for Young Ghouls Jeff BarnabyDanielle Ng See Quan, "It’s a tie: VIFF picks two for Best Canadian First Feature". Playback, October 15, 2013. That Burning Feeling Jason James2014 Violent Andrew Huculiak2015 Sleeping Giant Andrew Cividino2016 Window Horses Ann Marie Fleming2017 Black Cop Cory BowlesJordan Pinto, "Cory Bowles’ Black Cop wins VIFF’s best Canadian feature prize". Playback, October 10, 2017. 2018 Edge of the Knife (SG̲aawaay Ḵ'uuna) Gwaai Edenshaw, Helen Haig-Brown Genesis (Genèse)Philippe LesageThe GrizzliesMiranda de Pencier 2019 One Day in the Life of Noah Piugattuk Zacharias KunukDerek Neary, "Kunuk’s latest effort earns ‘Best Canadian Film’ in Vancouver". Northern News Services, October 6, 2019.Blood QuantumJeff BarnabyKelly Townsend, "‘The Body Remembers’ wins two awards in VIFF’s BC Spotlight". Playback, October 9, 2019.2020 Beans Tracey DeerCraig Takeuchi, "VIFF 2020: Beans, Violation, and The Hidden Life of Trees among award winners". The Georgia Straight, October 2, 2020.2021 Without Havana (Sin la Habana) Kaveh NabatianSteve Newton, "Vancouver International Film Fest announces award winners". The Georgia Straight, October 13, 2021. 2022 Riceboy Sleeps Anthony ShimNoel Ransome, "‘Riceboy Sleeps’ and ‘Until Branches Bend’ win top film prizes at VIFF". Toronto Star, October 7, 2022. Queens of the Qing Dynasty Ashley McKenzie 2023 Fitting In Molly McGlynn V.S. Wells, "VIFF announces Canadian film award winners". The Georgia Straight, October 5, 2023. Gamodi Felix Kalmenson 2024 Universal Language Matthew RankinGail Johnson, "Vancouver International Film Festival announces winners of 2024 juried awards". Stir, October 3, 2024. 2025 The Things You Kill Alireza KhatamiAndrew Tracy, "The Things You Kill, Blue Heron take trophies at VIFF awards". Playback, October 10, 2025.
See also Toronto International Film Festival Award for Best Canadian Film
References