The prizes awarded by the professional jury include the Grand Prize, the Canadian Grand Prize, the Jury Prize, the Best animation short film, the Best documentary short film.
Juliette Gariépy
Actress
Juliette Gariépy is an actress and emerging documentary filmmaker who graduated from Concordia University at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema in the Film production program with honorable mention. Juliette has over ten years of experience in the Canadian film and television industry as an actress.
She cumulates many roles on the Quebecois French TV series such Après, Avant le Crash, and in Home Turf by Mara Joly (La Maison des Folles I & II) for which she was honored with Best Supporting role at the Los Angeles Film Award and was nominated twice at the Gemeaux Awards. In 2023, she won the Iris Revelation of the Year at the Québec Cinéma gala for her outstanding performance as lead role in Red Rooms (Les Chambres rouges) by Pascal Plante which was sold internationally.
In 2025, you will see Juliette in the feature films Deux Femmes en Or by Chloe Robichaud which premiered at the prestigious Sundance festival and in Mile End Kicks by Chandler Levac. We will also be able to see her in the web series La Recette du Bonheur directed by Boris Rodriguez.
Picture © Thomas Bélanger
Madison Egan
Short films programmer at Tribeca Film Festival
Born and raised in New York, Madison discovered a passion for film from a young age. She would go on to study Cinema History at SUNY Purchase College before obtaining her master’s in Film Theory at the University of Galway, Ireland. Madison’s foray into film festivals began at the Galway Film Fleadh and as a programming assistant for the first art house cinema on the West Coast of Ireland.
Upon returning to the U.S. Madison held a variety of roles at some of the most prestigious festivals including Sundance, New York Film Festival and Tribeca Festival, where, in 2023 she was hired as the short film programmer, the youngest in the festival’s history. Since joining Tribeca, she has served on various festival juries and panels, including the Galway Film Fleadh, Tampere Film Festival, SAVFF, and Louisiana Film Prize.
Miryam Charles
director, producer and cinematographer
From Haitian descent, Miryam Charles is a director, producer and cinematographer living in Montreal. She has produced several short and feature films. She is also the director of several short films. Her films have been presented in various festivals in Quebec and internationally.
She has just completed the direction of her first feature film This House. Her work explores themes related to exile and the legacies of colonization.
Picture © Claudie-Ann Landry
Olivier Calvert
Sound designer
Olivier Calvert is responsible for the sound design of many critically and commercially acclaimed Quebec films. In his career of almost 30 years, he has collaborated on short and feature-length films ranging from fiction to documentary, including experimental and animated works. His credits include Shepherds (Sophie Deraspe), Red Rooms (Pascal Plante), Maria Chapdelaine (Sébastien Pilote), Pauline Julien, Intimate and Political (Pascale Ferland) and When Adam changes (Joël Vaudreuil).
He has won several awards in Quebec and abroad, including the Iris for best sound for Ravenous (Robin Aubert) and Drunken Birds (Ivan Grbovic). His sensitive approach has contributed to the success of several animated shorts, including Physics of Sorrow, Vaysha the Blind (Theodore Ushev), The Subject (Patrick Bouchard), Affairs of the Art (Joanna Quinn) and Here and the Great Elsewhere (Michèle Lemieux).
Rafaël Ouellet
director, editor and cinematographer
After seven memorable years (1998-2004) at MusiquePlus, Rafaël Ouellet returned to his dream of making films, joining the Kino movement in 2004. He edit the Denis Côté's first feature, Les États nordiques (2005), and handled the cinematography on Nos vies privées (2007), also by Côté. He directed his first feature, Le cèdre penché, in 2007. His best-known works are Camion (2012) and Arsenault & Fils (2022). In 2013, he began a great adventure in the world of TV series with Nouvelle adresse, Double Faute (2022), Aller Simple: Survivre (2023), and his most recent achievement, the series Veille sur moi (2024), are further additions to his career.
Rafaël has lots of ideas for podcasts that will probably never see the light of day.
Picture © Fabrice Gaëtan
The jury of the Focus Competition awards the five prizes related to the five sections of this competition : Shoot No Matter What, 100% Regions, Americana, Short & Queer and Indigenous Perspectives
Alexandre Dostie
dramaturgist and filmmaker
Raised in rural Quebec, Dostie is a self-taught artist with a unique background. As a poet, he published Shenley (2014), Trois saisons aux courses (2020) and Que ceux qui m'aiment me sauvent (2022), collections that led him to perform throughout the French-speaking world.
As a filmmaker, his short films Mutants (2016) and Je finirai en prison (2019) won numerous awards, including the Iris du cinéma québécois, the Academy of Canadian Cinema's Écrans gala and the Toronto Film Festival.
His films have also toured the world at prestigious festivals such as Sundance, Clermont-Ferrand and BFI London, to name but a few. BOA, his new film co-produced with France, will be released in 2025.
Dostie is currently working on his first feature film at COOP Vidéo in Montreal, as well as putting the finishing touches to his first play, Kiki et la colère.
Picture © Eva-Maude TC
Ana Alice de Morais
Producer and programmer
Ana Alice de Morais was born in Brazil, where she studied cinema before founding the production company 3 Moinhos. Specializing in the production and co-production of auteur films in Latin America, her works have been showcased at prestigious festivals such as the Berlinale and the Rotterdam International Film Festival.In 2018, she moved to Montreal/Tiohtià:ke.
Since 2021, she has served as the co-artistic director of RIDM – the Montreal International Documentary Festival. In 2023, she also took on the role of programming director for the RIDM Forum, the festival's professional market.
As a consultant and mentor for various film industry events and training programs, she has also served as a jury member at numerous festivals and markets, including Cannes Docs, the Montreal International Black Film Festival, the International Documentary Film Festival of Saint-Louis in Senegal, and the Visões Periféricas Festival in Brazil.
Aretha Greatrix
Program director Dreamspeakers International Indigenous Film Festival
Aretha Greatrix is James Bay Cree from Kashechewan First Nation (Albany Band), born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta. In 2012, Aretha earned a Bachelor of Applied Communications in Professional Writing Degree from Grant MacEwan University. In 2023, Aretha graduated with a Master of Arts in Communication and Technology from the University of Alberta, where she is exploring the reconciliation process and examining its effectiveness.
An entrepreneur, Aretha owns Ready Up Productions Inc., where she has made films as a producer and Director. Aretha is the Director of Programming at the Dreamspeakers Festival Society, overseeing and programming the annual Dreamspeakers International Indigenous Film Festival. Aretha is also a content creator and streamer online, where she advocates for Indigenous representation in streaming and gaming spaces such as Twitch, YouTube, and TikTok.
Pierre-Mathieu Fortin
Producer at the NFB Documentary Studio
Producer at the NFB Documentary Studio since 2020, Pierre-Mathieu shows a strong interest in emerging talents and the movements that are shaping our society. He has supported filmmakers and producers in their documentary film, series, and short fiction film projects intended for a variety of platforms.
After serving as Head of Digital Content Creation at Radio-Canada and Creative Producer at Sid Lee, he joined Québec Cinéma, where he created the fifth edition of Rendez-vous Pro as well as La Forge, a training event for emerging talent in cinema.
Throughout his career, he has received multiple Gémeaux and NUMIX awards and numerous international nominations. For the NFB, he recently produced Dans l’ombre du Star Wars Kid and Étoile du nord. He is currently developing several projects with, among others, Sophie Bédard Marcotte, Jenny Cartwright, and Matthew Rankin.
Robin L'Houmeau
Actor
Robin L’Houmeau is a Quebecois actor from Val-d’Or. First noticed in Happy Face by Alexandre Franchi, he later portrayed Kevin in The Goddess of Fireflies by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette. He has also appeared in Souterrain, Le Plongeur, Une Révision et Pour la suite des choses, as well as in several short films such as Embrasse-moi donc, Gaby les collines et Qui se souviendra de nous.
On television, he has portrayed Arnaud in In Memoriam and Jérémy in Stat, in addition to taking leading roles in La nuit où Laurie Gaudreault s'est réveillé, Fugueuse and Une affaire criminelle. He will soon be seen in the series Libre dès maintenant, directed by Patrice Laliberté, as well as in Le dernier des monstres, set for release in spring 2025.
As a member of the band Oliver Forest, Robin expresses himself through a variety of artistic mediums, blending music and film with a unique touch.
Picture © AAD
The AQCC Critics Jury is back for a eight year to award the Quebec Critics Award AQCC to a short film of its choice among the international films in the Official Competition.
Alain P. Jacques
Film critic
After studying Communications at UQAM, Alain P. Jacques began his career in independent film production. His short film In cauda venenum (1993) was screened at several international festivals and won an award at Cine-Jove in Valencia, Spain, that same year. At the same time, he published film reviews for the weekly Voir and OCS (the forerunner of Médiafilm) while participating on various juries as a member of the AQCC.
A few years later, he fully dedicated himself to teaching cinema at the college level, where for 25 years, he supervised the creation of student short films. Additionally, he contributed to evaluating Quebec feature film scripts for nearly a decade as a reader or external analyst for Telefilm Canada and SODEC.
Leaving the academic world behind, he returned to criticism in 2022 as a contributor to the magazine Séquences.
Martin Bilodeau
Film critic
A film critic and cultural journalist since the early 1990s (Le Devoir, Radio-Canada, Elle Québec, L’Actualité), Martin Bilodeau has headed Mediafilm since 2006, an npo (non-profit organization) dedicated to promoting quality cinema and developing viewers' critical faculties, renowned for its rating scale ranging from (1) - Masterpiece to (7) - Dreadful.
Martin spearheaded Mediafilm’s digital transformation by creating Où voir ça (ouvoir.ca), a web tool designed to guide moviegoers through Quebec’s broadcasting ecosystem, and Panoscope, a business intelligence application for film industry members. Concerned about the decline of cinephilia in Quebec, he launched the CinÉcole program in 2009, aiming to bring high-quality Quebecois and French-language cinema to high school students on the big screen.
Olivier Du Ruisseau
Film critic
Olivier Du Ruisseau joined Le Devoir in the summer of 2022, after working for a year in Radio-Canada's radio newsroom in Montreal. A master's student in film studies at the Université de Montréal, he contributes regularly to Le Devoir's cultural pages, notably as a film and visual arts critic, as well as to other publications.
Olivier still works in parallel in the cultural sector, having held various positions at the Festival du nouveau cinéma, the Cinéma sous les étoiles Festival, and the Festival International du Film sur l'art, where he was a year-round events programmer for two years. Since 2023, he has also been a research assistant and communications manager for the cinEXmedia partnership, associated with Laboratoire CinéMédias.
Consisting of three members, this jury will award a film amongst the Canadian shorts in the Official Competition with the International FIPRESCI critic’s award.
Laura Pertuy
Film critic
Laura is a film journalist for Arte Magazine and Trois Couleurs. She also wrote articles for Première, Madame Figaro, Slate, and translated works for the publishing and art words.
She is a programmer for several festivals in France and abroad, and worked to promote French-language cinema in China, Sweden, and the United States. Laura is actually the Secretary of Collectif 50/50.
Pélagie Ng’onana
Film critic
Pélagie Ng’onana is a Camerounian Journalist, Films Critic and Community Manager. She is currently the General Treasurer of the African Federation of Film Critics (FACC) and member of the FIPRESCI. She previously chaired the Cameroonian Association of Film Critics (CINEPRESS).
She also works for websites and specialized journals like www.africine.org, Awotele. She develops a personal blog. She worked in selection’s teams for some festivals like Ecrans noirs and Les Trophées Francophones du cinéma.
Rachel West
Film critic
Rachel West is a Senior Film Critic at That Shelf. with a B.A. (Honours) in Film Studies from Carleton University. She has interviewed everyone from Michael Fassbender to Miss Piggy and has reported live from TIFF, SXSW, Star Wars Celebration, Comic-Con, D23, CinemaCon, BAFTA Tea Party, the SAG Awards, and the Golden Globes, among other events.
Her film writing and interviews have appeared in publications and outlets including Entertainment Tonight Canada, Global News, The National Post, Cineplex Magazine and many more.
Rachel’s hobbies include introducing herself to cats she meets on the street, travelling, quoting obscure lines from The Simpsons and posting all about it on Twitter. Rachel is a member of the Toronto Film Critics Association (TFCA), Alliance of Women Film Journalists (AWFJ) and has served on several film festival juries.
The Youth Competition Jury gives the Best youth short film award.
Barbada de Barbades
Drag artist
Dynamic, funny and engaging, Barbada is a drag artist who has been performing across Quebec since 2005. In addition to delivering disco, pop and dance-flavored performances, the drag queen masterfully hosts a number of parties, including for the Cirque du Soleil, several weddings and numerous corporate events, knowing how to adapt her approach to any occasion.
In 2016, she launched L'Heure du conte, a project with which she goes around reading stories to youngsters aged 3 to 8, with the aim of talking about openness, acceptance and self-esteem.
In 2022, she became Quebec's first drag queen at the helm of a children's program with the series Barbada, presented on ICI TOU.TV. Through the series, she invites artists to take part in her colorful universe, helping children discover Quebec music.
With its humor, candor and values, Barbada is drag for everyone.
Christian Gautellier
Director of the Festival international du film d'éducation
Christian Gautellier is the director of the Festival international du film d'éducation (France) since its creation 20 years ago. This festival, organized by a French NGO, CEMÉA, reaches the three oceans (Polynesia, Martinique, Reunion) and internationally through various Echoes of the Festival and off-site editions.
He is a member of the selection committee of the Prix Jean Renoir des Lycéens. He is also a member of the steering committee of the Pôle Médias, numérique, éducation critique et citoyenneté of CEMÉA France.
In 2000, Christian Gautellier was one of the directors of the international network of the Möbius Awards, which rewards the best interactive multimedia in the fields of creation, education and culture.
Janice Nadeau
Illustrator and filmmaker
Janice Nadeau is a Professor at École de design de l’UQAM where she teaches drawing and illustration.
She illustrated ten books with which she won the prestigious Governor General’s Award in Illustration three times.
She also co-directed and directed tree animated films (No Fish Where to Go, 2014; MAMIE 2016; HARVEY 2023) which were selected in official competition in more than one hundred and thirty international festivals and won more than seventeen awards and mentions.