Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney is this year’s winner of the WIFF Prize in Canadian Film at the Windsor International Film Festival. Director Matthew Rankin accepted the award at the festival today and received a cash prize of $25,000. The jury praised the film’s originality of vision and sprawlingly eccentric use of archival materials to play fast and loose with the origin story of Brian Mulroney’s tenure as the 18th Prime Minister of Canada.
Accepting the award from jury president Michael Mabbott (Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story) and WIFF executive director and lead programmer Vincent Georgie, Rankin situated the film within what he called an “elbows up, knees down” climate and spoke to the role of festivals like WIFF that build community around films and of cultural institutions like the National Film Board of Canada, which produced the documentary—or, as Rankin said, “that great and visionary and precious and scandalously underfunded public institution, of which we are also quite proud.”
Rankin gave special thanks to two of his collaborators in the room, archival producer Marika Lapointe, “who was there all through the project to both encourage and reprimand me,” he joked. He also gave a shout-out to Mélopée Montminy for her work on the French version of the film and for contributing a cameo as René Lévesque’s feet.
“For its absolute originality, uniquely Canadian voice, and intelligence and humour, we’re pleased to present the 2026 WIFF Prize in Canadian Film to Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney,” said the WIFF Prize in Canadian Film jury, in a statement. “In this film, Matthew Rankin has created surrealistic historical deconstruction and reconstruction, a political satire that plays like a political thriller. It refuses all conventional biopic tropes while painting an evocative and informative picture of our past using, and beautifully abusing, our shared iconography and soundscapes. We also want to acknowledge the astounding work of archive producer Marika Lapointe, who utilized over 80,000 pieces of archival material to create a beautiful fever dream. Congratulations to Matthew Rankin and his entire team for creating a timely and important piece of gonzo journalism, and a timeless work of art.”
Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney offers a satirical docufantasia about the playoffs within the Conservative Party of Canada during the politician’s ascent to power. This year’s win at Windsor marks the first time that a documentary has scored WIFF’s Canadian film prize. Also nominated were the documentaries Ba’s Book, Nekai Walks, and Run Terry Run. The filmmakers for all three films were present at the WIFF awards ceremony, as were participants Nekai Foster and Darrell Fox. Also in attendance was former Governor General Michaëlle Jean and her husband Jean-Daniel Lafond, whose documentary Draw Me a Bridge, about the Gordie Howe International Bridge, has its world premiere at WIFF later this week. WIFF continues through November 8.
