The John Dunning Best First Feature Award is a special

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

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 to honour Canadian films release in 1992. This year's event was dominated by two Vancouver productions: Paul Shapiro (director), Paul Shapiro's ''The Lotus Eaters (film), The Lotus Eaters'', and ...

in 1993.Claude Jutra Award

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. 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)'', '' 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 in ...

'', '' A Colony (Une colonie)'', ''

Beans A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are tradition ...

'' and ''

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'', have won both the Best First Feature and

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

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 * As ...

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 Stoddart Publishing was a Canadian book publisher and distributor, owned by Jack Stoddart, which ceased operations in 2002. History In 1967, General Publishing purchased the Musson imprint, based in Canada, from British publisher Hodder & Stough ...

, 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), known as the "Etrog Awards" for sculpt ...

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

Canadian Screen Awards The Canadian Screen Awards () 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) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...

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 (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the ''Ci ...

'', 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

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ceremonies on the same day. Beginning with the

4th Canadian Screen Awards The 4th Canadian Screen Awards was held on March 13, 2016, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2015. Nominations were announced on January 19, 2016. Throughout the week before the main ceremony, aw ...

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,"Canadian Screen Awards leave Hollywood behind"
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', January 16, 2018. until the two awards were merged under the John Dunning Best First Feature Award name beginning with the

7th Canadian Screen Awards The seventh annual Canadian Screen Awards were held on March 31, 2019, to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2018.Prix Iris for Best First Film The Prix Iris for Best First Film () is an annual film award, presented by Québec Cinéma as part of its Prix Iris awards program, to honour the year's best debut film made within the Cinema of Quebec. The award was presented for the first time a ...

Toronto International Film Festival Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film The Toronto International Film Festival Best Canadian Discovery Award is an annual film award, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival to a film judged to be the best Canadian first or second feature film by an emerging Canadian direct ...

References

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