The John Dunning Best First Feature Award is a special

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

film award, presented by the

Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television is a Canadian non-profit organization created in 1979 to recognize the achievements of the over 4,000 Canadian cinema of Canada, film industry and television in Canada, television industry professionals ...

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 The 14th Genie Awards were held on December 12, 1993."Glenn Gould Still Scoring Prizes". ''The Globe and Mail'', March 13, 1993. In a bid to increase the visibility of the Genie Awards in the francophone market in Quebec, the ceremony was held in ...

in 1993.Claude Jutra Award

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available f ...

. 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 ''The Confessional'' (french: Le Confessionnal) is a 1995 mystery-drama film directed by Robert Lepage. The film is set in Quebec City, in two distinct time periods. In the present day, Pierre Lamontagne (Lothaire Bluteau) searches for his estran ...

(Le Confessionnal)'', '' Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner'', ''

Away from Her ''Away from Her'' is a 2006 Canadian independent drama film written and directed by Sarah Polley and starring Julie Christie and Gordon Pinsent. Olympia Dukakis, Michael Murphy, Wendy Crewson, Alberta Watson, and Kristen Thomson are featured i ...

'', ''

A Colony ''A Colony'' (french: Une colonie) is a Canadian drama film from Quebec, directed by Geneviève Dulude-De Celles and released in 2018. The film centres on Mylia (Émilie Bierre), a young girl starting high school who is torn between her new friends ...

(Une colonie)'', ''

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'' and ''

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

'', have won both the Best First Feature and

Best Picture This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

awards in the same year; the directors of ''Le Confessionnal'', ''Atanarjuat'', ''Away from Her'' and ''Scarborough'' also won the award for

Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to: Film awards * AACTA Award for Best Direction * Academy Award for Best Director * BA ...

for the same films.

History

The award was originally named in memory of

Claude Jutra Claude Jutra (; March 11, 1930 – November 5, 1986) was a Canadian actor, film director, and screenwriter.

, a Canadian film director who died in 1986.Maria Topalovich, ''And the Genie Goes To...: Celebrating 50 Years of the Canadian Film Awards''. Stoddart Publishing, 2000. . pp. 199-203. Formerly part of the

Genie Awards The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scul ...

ceremonies, the Claude Jutra Award was transitioned to be part of the new

Canadian Screen Awards The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...

in 2013. Following the February 2016 publication of

Yves Lever Yves Lever (1942 – July 7, 2020) was a Canadian film critic and historian from Quebec. He was historically most noted for his 2016 biography of film director Claude Jutra, which addressed allegations that Jutra had sexually abused underage childr ...

'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."Claude Jutra's name to be pulled from Quebec film awards"
. ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris, it was renamed the ''Citizen'' in 1851. The new ...

'', February 17, 2016.

Québec Cinéma Québec Cinéma is a Canadian organization based in Quebec, whose mission is to promote and develop the Cinema of Quebec. The organization's programs include the Prix Iris, the annual film awards for Quebec films; the Rendez-vous Québec Cinéma, ...

also removed Jutra's name from its

Prix Jutra The Prix Iris is a Canadian film award, presented annually by Québec Cinéma, which recognizes talent and achievement in the mainly francophone feature film industry in Quebec.4th Canadian Screen Awards in 2016, the John Dunning Discovery Award, named in memory of film producer John Dunning, was introduced to honour

microbudget A low-budget film or low-budget movie is a motion picture shot with little to no funding from a major film studio or private investor. Many independent films are made on low budgets, but films made on the mainstream circuit with inexperienced or ...

films. Initially it was a separate award from the Best First Feature category, with the two awards presented alongside each other to different films for the next three years."Canadian Screen Awards leave Hollywood behind"
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', January 16, 2018. For the

7th Canadian Screen Awards The 7th annual Canadian Screen Awards were held on March 31, 2019, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2018.

in 2019, the Academy announced that the awards would be merged under the John Dunning Best First Feature Award name.

Winners

References

{{Canadian Screen Awards Directorial debut film awards Canadian Screen Award film categories Awards established in 1993

History

Winners

Claude Jutra Award

Best First Feature

John Dunning Discovery Award

John Dunning Best First Feature Award

See also

References