Jean-Marc Vallée DGC Discovery Award explained
The Jean-Marc Vallée DGC Discovery Award is an annual Canadian award, presented by the Directors Guild of Canada to honour works by emerging filmmakers.
Presented for the first time in 2016, the award is given primarily to filmmakers making their first or second feature films in any genre; however, more established filmmakers are also eligible for their first film outside their usual genre, such as a narrative filmmaker making their first documentary film or vice versa. An initial longlist of between 10 and 15 nominees is announced, which is then reduced to a shortlist of four to six films, before the award is presented at the annual DGC award gala.
Formerly presented as the DGC Discovery Award, it was renamed in 2022 in memory of director Jean-Marc Vallée following his death in December 2021.[1]
Winners and nominees
| Year | Film | Director | Result | Ref |
|---|
| 2016 |
| Before the Streets (Avant les rues) | Chloé Leriche | Winner | [2] |
| 2017 |
| Luk'Luk'I | Wayne Wapeemukwa | Winner | [3] |
| All You Can Eat Buddha | Ian Lagarde | Shortlist | [4] |
| Mass for Shut-Ins | Winston DeGiobbi |
| Never Steady, Never Still | Kathleen Hepburn |
| Adventures in Public School | Kyle Rideout | Longlist | [5] |
| Allure | Carlos and Jason Sanchez |
| Ava | Sadaf Foroughi |
| Black Cop | Cory Bowles |
| The Crescent | Seth A. Smith |
| Gregoire | Cody Bown |
| Indian Horse | Stephen Campanelli |
| Maison du Bonheur | Sofia Bohdanowicz |
| Still Night, Still Light (Mes nuits feront écho) | Sophie Goyette |
| Suck It Up | Jordan Canning |
| Sweet Virginia | Jamie M. Dagg |
| 2018 |
| Fausto | Andrea Bussmann | Winner | [6] |
| Edge of the Knife (SG̲aawaay Ḵ'uuna) | Gwaai Edenshaw, Helen Haig-Brown | Shortlist | [7] |
| Firecrackers | Jasmin Mozaffari |
| A Little Wisdom | Yuqi Kang |
| Ville Neuve | Félix Dufour-Laperrière |
| Clara | Akash Sherman | Longlist | [8] |
| Family First (Chien de garde) | Sophie Dupuis |
| Freaks | Zach Lipovsky, Adam Stein |
| Giant Little Ones | Keith Behrman |
| Incredible Violence | Gaelen Patrick Condon |
| M/M | Drew Lint |
| The Museum of Forgotten Triumphs | Bojan Bodružić |
| The New Romantic | Carly Stone |
| Take Light | Shasha Nakhai |
| Transformer | Michael Del Monte |
| 2019 |
| Tasha Hubbard | Winner | [9] |
| Black Conflux | Nicole Dorsey | Shortlist | [10] |
| Murmur | Heather Young |
| Raf | Harry Cepka |
| The Twentieth Century | Matthew Rankin |
| Blood Quantum | Jeff Barnaby | Longlist | [11] |
| Castle in the Ground | Joey Klein |
| Drag Kids | Megan Wennberg |
| A Kandahar Away | Aisha Jamal |
| L.A. Tea Time | Sophie Bédard Marcotte |
| The Rest of Us | Aisling Chin-Yee |
| There's Something in the Water | Elliot Page, Ian Daniel |
| 2020 |
| Beans | Tracey Deer | Winner | [12] |
| Inconvenient Indian | Michelle Latimer | Shortlist | [13] |
| No Ordinary Man | Aisling Chin-Yee, Chase Joynt |
| Violation | Madeleine Sims-Fewer, Dusty Mancinelli |
| La Contemplation du mystère | Albéric Aurtenèche | Longlist | [14] |
| Don't Worry, the Doors Will Open | Oksana Karpovych |
| The Forbidden Reel | Ariel Nasr |
| Happy Place | Helen Shaver |
| Kenbe la, Until We Win | Will Prosper |
| Little Orphans | Ruth Lawrence |
| Monkey Beach | Loretta Todd |
| Queen of the Morning Calm | Gloria Ui Young Kim |
| Vagrant | Caleb Ryan |
| The Walrus and the Whistleblower | Nathalie Bibeau |
| 2021 |
| Night Raiders | Danis Goulet | Winner | [15] |
| The Noise of Engines (Le Bruit des moteurs) | Philippe Grégoire | Shortlist | [16] |
| Wildhood | Bretten Hannam |
| Without Havana (Sin la Habana) | Kaveh Nabatian |
| Bootlegger | Caroline Monnet | Longlist | [17] |
| Fortitude (La Fortaleza) | Jorge Thielen Armand |
| Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers |
| Learn to Swim | Thyrone Tommy |
| Night Blooms | Stephanie Joline |
| One of Ours | Yasmine Mathurin |
| Portraits from a Fire | Trevor Mack |
| Ste. Anne | Rhayne Vermette |
| Subjects of Desire | Jennifer Holness |
| 2022 |
| Riceboy Sleeps | Anthony Shim | Winner | [18] |
| Queens of the Qing Dynasty | Ashley McKenzie | Shortlist | [19] |
| Rosie | Gail Maurice |
| Slash/Back | Nyla Innuksuk |
| Something You Said Last Night | Luis De Filippis |
| When Morning Comes | Kelly Fyffe-Marshall |
| Anyox | Ryan Ermacora, Jessica Johnson | Longlist | [20] |
| Before I Change My Mind | Trevor Anderson |
| Broken Angel (MaaShwaKanManiTo) | Jules Arita Koostachin |
| Dark Nature | Berkley Brady |
| Framing Agnes | Chase Joynt |
| Laura O'Grady |
| Geographies of Solitude | Jacquelyn Mills |
| Golden Delicious | Jason Karman |
| Reset | Min Bae |
| This House (Cette maison) | Miryam Charles |
| Until Branches Bend | Sophie Jarvis |
| 2023 |
| Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant) | Ariane Louis-Seize | Winner | [21] |
| Atikamekw Suns (Soleils Atikamekw) | Chloé Leriche | Shortlist | [22] |
| Hey, Viktor! | Cody Lightning |
| In Flames | Zarrar Kahn |
| The Queen of My Dreams | Fawzia Mirza |
| Banchi Hanuse | Longlist | [23] |
| Coaching While Black | Alex Eskandarkhah |
| Gabor | Joannie Lafrenière |
| I'm Just Here for the Riot | Kathleen Jayme, Asia Youngman |
| Seagrass | Meredith Hama-Brown |
| With Love and a Major Organ | Kim Albright | |
Notes and References
- Victoria Ahearn, "In brief: Out in the Ring wins top Canadian prize at Inside Out". Playback, June 9, 2022.
- Web site: Paul Gross takes top film honours at Directors Guild of Canada Awards . Hertz . Barry . . October 22, 2016.
- https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/lukluki-dga-canada-winner-1.4377453 "Luk'Luk'I among winners at Canada's directors guild awards"
- Regan Reid, "DGC unveils Discovery Award short list". Playback, October 23, 2017.
- Barry Hertz, "Directors Guild of Canada reveals long list for Discovery Award". The Globe and Mail, September 5, 2017.
- Greg David, "2018 Directors Guild of Canada Awards winners announced". TV, eh?, October 21, 2018.
- Jordan Pinto, "McGlynn, de Pencier in the running for DGC’s feature film prize". Playback, September 20, 2018.
- Connie Thiessen, "DGC's list of top new Canadian filmmakers to watch". Broadcast Dialogue, September 10, 2018.
- Lauren Malyk, "Patricia Rozema and Robert Budreau tie at DGC Awards". Playback, October 28, 2019.
- https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/2019-09-12/nominees-announced-for-18th-annual-dgc-awards "Nominees announced for 18th Annual DGC Awards"
- Connie Thiessen, "Ellen Page, Megan Wennberg among DGC Discovery Award nominees". Broadcast Dialogue, September 9, 2019.
- Lauren Malyk, "Michelle Latimer, Vincenzo Natali among DGC film winners". Playback, October 28, 2020.
- Connie Thiessen, "DGC feature, doc, and short film nominees announced". Broadcast Dialogue, September 21, 2020.
- https://playbackonline.ca/2020/09/18/in-brief-latimer-deer-among-dgcs-discovery-long-list/ "In brief: Latimer, Deer among DGC's Discovery long list"
- Nick Krewen, "Directors Guild of Canada reveals feature, doc and short film winners". Playback, October 25, 2021.
- Kelly Townsend, "All My Puny Sorrows leads film nominees for 2021 DGC Awards". Playback, September 24, 2021.
- https://broadcastdialogue.com/tv-film-news-63/ "TV & Film News – DGC reveals Discovery Award long list of emerging directors to watch"
- Angelica Babiera, "David Cronenberg, Charles Officer among DGC award winners". Playback, November 7, 2022.
- Etan Vlessing, "DGC Awards: ‘Nightmare Alley,’ ‘Crimes of the Future,’ ‘Night Raiders’ Lead Nominees". The Hollywood Reporter, September 23, 2022.
- https://ca.movies.yahoo.com/jean-marc-vall-e-dgc-160000742.html "JEAN-MARC VALLÉE DGC DISCOVERY AWARD LONG LIST DROPS AT VISIONARIES"
- Connie Thiessen, "‘Women Talking’ leads winners at 22nd annual DGC Awards". Broadcast Dialogue, October 22, 2023.
- Taimur Sikander Mirza, "Women Talking leads film nominees for 2023 DGC Awards". Playback, September 20, 2023.
- Connie Thiessen, "DGC unveils 2023 Discovery Award long list". Broadcast Dialogue, September 12, 2023.
