John Dunning Best First Feature Award Explained

The John Dunning Best First Feature Award is a special Canadian film award, presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the year's best feature film by a first-time film director. Under the earlier names Claude Jutra Award and Canadian Screen Award for Best First Feature, the award has been presented since the 14th Genie Awards in 1993.^[1] ^[2]

Formerly a juried prize whose winner was announced in advance of the ceremony, the award is now presented as a conventional category with a full shortlist of nominees.

To date six films, The Confessional (Le Confessionnal), , Away from Her, A Colony (Une colonie), Beans and Scarborough, have won both the Best First Feature and Best Picture awards in the same year; the directors of Le Confessionnal, Atanarjuat, Away from Her and Scarborough also won the award for Best Director for the same films.

History

The award was originally named in memory of Claude Jutra, a Canadian film director who died in 1986.^[3] Formerly part of the Genie Awards ceremonies, the Claude Jutra Award was transitioned to be part of the new Canadian Screen Awards in 2013.

Following the February 2016 publication of Yves Lever's biography of Jutra, which contained allegations that Jutra had sexually abused underage children during his lifetime, the Academy announced that it was removing Jutra's name from the award.^[4] Québec Cinéma also removed Jutra's name from its Prix Jutra ceremonies on the same day.^[4]

Beginning with the 4th Canadian Screen Awards in 2016, the award was presented as the Canadian Screen Award for Best First Feature. In the same year the John Dunning Discovery Award, named in memory of film producer John Dunning, was introduced to honour microbudget films. Initially it was a separate award from the Best First Feature category, with the two awards presented alongside each other to different films,^[5] until the two awards were merged under the John Dunning Best First Feature Award name beginning with the 7th Canadian Screen Awards in 2019.

Winners

Claude Jutra Award

width=8%	Year	width=19%	Film	width=19%	Director	width=2%	Ref
1993 14th Genie Awards	*The Grocer's Wife*	John Pozer
1994 15th Genie Awards	*Louis 19, King of the Airwaves (Louis 19, le roi des ondes)*	Michel Poulette
1995 16th Genie Awards	*The Confessional (Le Confessionnal)*	Robert Lepage
1996 17th Genie Awards	*Joe's So Mean to Josephine*	Peter Wellington
1997 18th Genie Awards	*The Hanging Garden*	Thom Fitzgerald
1998 19th Genie Awards	*Last Night*	Don McKellar
1999 20th Genie Awards	*Post Mortem*	Louis Bélanger
2000 21st Genie Awards	*The Left-Hand Side of the Fridge (La Moitié gauche du frigo)*	Philippe Falardeau
2001 22nd Genie Awards		Zacharias Kunuk
2002 23rd Genie Awards	*Flower & Garnet*	Keith Behrman
2003 24th Genie Awards	*How My Mother Gave Birth to Me During Menopause (Comment ma mère accoucha de moi durant sa ménopause)*	Sébastien Rose
2004 25th Genie Awards	*White Skin (La Peau blanche)*	Daniel Roby
2005 26th Genie Awards	*Familia*	Louise Archambault
2006 27th Genie Awards	*Eve and the Fire Horse*	Julia Kwan
*The Secret Life of Happy People (La Vie secrète des gens heureux)*	Stéphane Lapointe
2007 28th Genie Awards	*Away from Her*	Sarah Polley
2008 29th Genie Awards	*Everything Is Fine (Tout est parfait)*	Yves Christian Fournier
2009 30th Genie Awards	*I Killed My Mother (J'ai tué ma mère)*	Xavier Dolan
2010 31st Genie Awards	*Exit 67 (Sortie 67)*	Jephté Bastien	^[6]
2011 32nd Genie Awards	*Nuit #1*	Anne Émond	^[7]
2012 1st Canadian Screen Awards	*Blackbird*	Jason Buxton	^[8]
2013 2nd Canadian Screen Awards	*Whitewash*	Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais	^[9]
2014 3rd Canadian Screen Awards	*Bang Bang Baby*	Jeffrey St. Jules	^[10]

Best First Feature

width=8%	Year	width=19%	Film	width=19%	Director	width=2%	Ref
2015 4th Canadian Screen Awards	*River*	Jamie M. Dagg	^[11]
2016 5th Canadian Screen Awards	*Old Stone*	Johnny Ma	^[12]
2017 6th Canadian Screen Awards	*Ava*	Sadaf Foroughi	^[13]

John Dunning Discovery Award

Year	Film	Director	Ref
2015 4th Canadian Screen Awards
2015 4th Canadian Screen Awards	*Mina Walking*	Yosef Baraki	^[14]
2016 5th Canadian Screen Awards
2016 5th Canadian Screen Awards	*The Lockpicker*	Randall Okita	^[15]
2017 6th Canadian Screen Awards
	*Black Cop*	Cory Bowles	^[16]
	The Devout	Connor Gaston	^[17]
	Wexford Plaza	Joyce Wong	^[17]