Islands leads the winners of the 2022 Kingston Canadian Film Festival. The drama by Martin Edralin won the jury prize for Best First Feature in the list of award winners announced over the weekend by KCFF. Islands is a slice-of-life portrait of a working-class Filipino-Canadian family in Toronto, seen through the eyes of middle-aged Joshua (Rogelio Balagtas) as he cares for his aging parents and confronts his fear of dying alone. The film will be released theatrically beginning this April.
KCFF wrapped up a weeklong run as a hybrid festival with both in-person and online screenings. The festival’s closing night film, Wildhood, won the audience award as favourite Canadian film. Wildhood is directed by Bretten Hannam and has been widely acclaimed for its artful spin on the coming-of-age drama through a Two-Spirited lens. The film is now playing in theatres.
The full list of winners for the 2022 Kingston Canadian Film Festival is as follows:
Jury Prizes
Best First Feature
Islands directed by Martin Edralin
Best Canadian Short
Amani directed by Alliah Fafin
Best Youth Short
Choice directed by Sabrina Marques
Best Local Short
Name It After: Improvised Music on Wolfe Island directed by David Parker and 12CAT Arts Collective
Audience Awards
Limestone Financial People’s Choice Award
Wildhood directed by Bretten Hannam
Favourite Canadian Short
Forgotten directed by Mawrgan Shaw
Favourite Youth Short
The Reflection directed by Tom Fan
Favourite Local Short
R E V O L V I N G – Josh Lyon and Heidi Latsky
