A story at the heart of Toronto’s queer scene leads the winners for this year’s Inside Out LGBTQ+ Film Festival. Supporting Our Selves, directed by Lulu Wei and produced by Jenn Mason, won the festival’s award for Best Canadian Feature announced today via a release. Supporting Our Selves examines the history of Toronto’s Community One, which established several key organizations in Toronto’s queer history including Inside Out, as well as present voices who share its mission to build a more inclusive LGBTQ+ community. The film screened as the centrepiece gala at this year’s festival with a sold-out event.
Leilani’s Fortune, meanwhile, won the Audience Award at Inside Out for Best Documentary Feature. Directed by Loveleen Kaur, Leilani’s Fortune follows Ethiopian-Eritrean musician Witch Prophet as she endeavours to make a career in the music industry. The Audience Awards for narrative feature and short film went to I Used to Be Funny by Ally Pankiw and Apayauq by Zeppelin Zerrip, respectively.
Other Inside Out winners included Adore, directed by Beth Warrian, which took the award for Best Canadian Short, while Karimah Zakia Issa scored the emerging Canadian artist award for Scaring Women at Night. Among the awards handed out by the international jury, Juan Sebastián Torales’ Almamula won Best First Feature with an honourable mention going to Canadian Luis De Filippis’ Something You Said Last Night. The Leadership Circle Prize for Outstanding Performance, meanwhile, went to actor Payman Maadi for Opponent. Judith Schuyler, finally, won the Pitch, Please prize sponsored by Netflix for There Is Light.
