Saguenay international
short film festival

A week before the announcement of the official program for its 27th edition, REGARD – the Saguenay International Short Film Festival, is pleased introduce the public and industry professionals to the 17 members of the festival’s five juries. From March 22 to 26, they will be in Saguenay for the festival and select the winners of more than $100,000 in cash and services, to be announced on March 26 during the official awards ceremony. 


Official Competition Jury

The jury for the Official Competition is composed of film critic and historian Charles Tesson (France), who was artistic director of Critics’ Week at Cannes from 2012 to 2021. He will be joined by director Maxime Giroux (Quebec, Canada), actress Sophie Desmarais (Quebec, Canada), Mia Falstein, a programmer at the Melbourne International Film Festival (Australia) and Samir Karahoda, filmmaker and programmer at the Dockufest International Documentary and Short Film Festival (Kosovo). Together, they will select the winners of the Grand Prize, Canadian Grand Prize, Jury Prize, and the awards for Best Animation and Best Documentary.

Parallel Competition Jury 

The members of the 2023 Parallel Competition jury are Chloe Roddick, senior programmer at the Morelia International short film Festival (Mexico), Nicolas Paquet, filmmaker and documentarist (Quebec, Canada), and Charlie Boudreau, executive and artistic director of Image+Nation festival (Quebec, Canada). The three jurors will name a winner in each of the four sections of the Parallel Competition: 100% Regions, Tourner à Tout Prix!, Americana and Short & Queer.


FIPRESCI Jury

Thanks to the support of the Bureau du cinéma de Saguenay, REGARD remains one of the few events devoted exclusively to short films that hosts a jury of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI). This jury is composed of three critics: Enoe Lopes Pontes (Brazil), Michela Manente (Italy) and Patrick Mullen (Canada). They will select the winner of the FIPRESCI International Critics’ Prize from among the Canadian films in the Official Competition.


AQCC Jury

Three more journalists specializing in cinema, all based in Quebec, will crown the winner of the AQCC Quebec Critics’ Prize on behalf of the Association québécoise des critiques de cinéma. Jérôme Delgado, Marc-Antoine Lévesque and Shelagh Rowan-Legg will select the winner from among the international films in the Official Competition.


Youth Competition Jury

In a major development for 2023, the Youth Competition will have its own professional jury. The three experts in films for young audiences who will name the winner of the award for Best Youth film are: the founder of REGARD’s youth section and its programmer for 20 years, Sylvie Poisson (Quebec, Canada), Jake Laystrom of the Chicago International Children's Film Festival (United States) and filmmaker Sophie Farkas Bolla (Quebec, Canada), whose first family-oriented feature, Jules au Pays d’Asha, will open in July.


“We always select our jurors with just as much care as we put into choosing films for the festival. I am deeply honoured that so many influential professionals are participating. Their love of cinema, complementary and connected expertise, and understanding of the particular nature of short films, will ensure excellent discussions and a meaningful, representative list of award winners.” - Mélissa Bouchard, programming director 

 
The public will also have its say thanks to on-site and online voting after each screening to determine the winner of the Audience Awards for the Official and Parallel competitions. 


Retrospective with commentary: the year of Steve Laplante 

In recognition of an incredibly productive year and the first 20 years of his acting career, REGARD, in collaboration with ICI Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, will honour actor Steve Laplante (Babysitter, Viking, C’est comme ça que je t’aime, Chouchou) with a retrospective of six short films in which he stars. Saturday, March 25, at 1 p.m. at the Centre d’Expérimentation Musicale, movie lovers will get to re-watch the films with Steve and some of the filmmakers, who will liven up the screening with anecdotes, reminiscences and fun facts. Guests: Martin Talbot, Jean-François Nadeau, Joëlle Desjardins-Paquette, Pierre-Marc Drouin, Simon Lamarre-Ledoux and Annie St-Pierre.      Invité.e.s : Martin Talbot, Jean-François Nadeau, Joëlle Desjardins-Paquette, Pierre-Marc Drouin, Simon Lamarre-Ledoux et Annie St-Pierre.


“The invitation was surprising and original. I didn’t realize that I’d made enough short films to have a retrospective. I must be getting old!” - Steve Laplante


The screening will be followed by a one-on-one session with the festival’s spokesperson, Florence Longpré, and host and journalist Manon Dumais. 


Passes for the festival are still available on the Diffusion Saguenay website and at three physical points of sale. The program will be announced at an event for journalists, collaborators and friends of the festival on Wednesday, March 1, at 10 a.m. at the Centre d’Expérimentation Musicale in Chicoutimi.