Female Eye Film Festival (FeFF): 2022 award winners

The Female Eye Film Festival, or FeFF, has announced the complete list of award winners for the 2022 festival, which took place in Toronto’s TIFF Bell Lightbox from June 9-12.

The Female Eye Film Festival (FeFF), founded by Canadian trailblazer Leslie Ann Coles, celebrated its 20th Anniversary from June 9 to 12, 2022, at TIFF Bell Lightbox.

Voted one of the “Top 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee” by Movie Maker Magazine for a 10th consecutive year (2013–2022), FeFF is a competitive international women’s film festival that provides an exclusive showcase for Canadian and foreign women and gender-diverse directors.

Female Eye Film Festival (FeFF) 2022 Award Winners

Best Animated Film

Winner: “Tango Through Life” by Zsofia Opra-Szabo.

In “Tango Through Life”, life is like a dance where we do not know the dance steps… Visually stunning and highly symbolic, Tango Through Life explores how every interaction with others effects and changes us. It is a rather universal experience, presented in a unique way through the traditional Tango dance.

Best Experimental Film

Winner: “Once There Were III” by Nina McNeely.

In “Once There Were III”, 3 women bound to a shared soul oscillating between the throes of brutality and piety. A visceral display of true sisterhood- they suffer together, thrive together and bleed together.

Best Short Comedy

Best Short Canadian Comedy

Winner: “Mulligan” by Katelyn McCulloch.

In “Mulligan”, it’s the final golf game of the season; we have a Mother/Daughter relationship on the brink, and a Golf Troll Trophy on the line.

Best Short Foreign Comedy

Winner: “The Dinner Party” by Jenna Ushkowitz.

In “The Dinner Party”, all hell breaks loose when Steve (Eric Nelsen) brings his new girlfriend Serena (Kate Easton) to meet his family for the first time.

Best Short Films

Best Foreign Short Film

Winner: “Ain’t No Mercy for Rabbits” by Aliza Brugger.

In “Ain’t No Mercy for Rabbits”, when Gramma gets sick, Roan must learn to survive on her own in a world with limited water.

 Best Canadian Short Film
Winner: “Camp Tipsy” by Jana Stackhouse.

“Camp Tipsy” is set in the world of a summer camp for teens that are struggling with alcohol and addiction.
“Gil & Dole” by Cornelia Maria Rainer won an honorable mention.

Best Late Night Thrills & Chills

Best Late Night Thrills and Chills Short

Winner: “Martha’s Day” by Sofia Monzerratt.

In “Martha’s Day”, Martha Rogers wakes up at home to what seems to be a normal day. However, throughout the day she finds things out of place, her husband has disappeared and a huge existential crisis might come visit her at the peak of her unpredicted isolation. Raising questions regarding meaning and the importance yet non-importance of time.

Best Late Night Thrills and Chills Feature

Winner: “Stag” by Alexandra Spieth.

In “Stag”, a loner must fight for a second chance at redemption when she’s invited to her estranged BFF’s bachelorette party.

“Creature” by Larissa James won an honorable mention in this competition section.

Best Documentary

Best Foreign Documentary

Winner: “Independent Miss Craigie” by Lizzie Thynne.

“Independent Miss Craigie” uses the director’s (Jill Craigie) unseen papers, and her films, to reveal her energetic struggles to get her radical projects made and distributed, including her last one, on the Yugoslav conflict, made when she was 83, with her husband, former Labor leader, Michael Foot.

Best Canadian Documentary

Winner: “Borderland Memories” by Edie Steiner.

“Pure Grit” by Kim Bartley won an honorable mention in this competition section.

Best Debut Directors

Best Canadian Debut Director

Winner: “We’re All In This Together” by Katie Boland.

In “We’re All In This Together”, the members of the Parker family have had their fair share of complications. When matriarch Kate Parker miraculously survives plummeting over a waterfall in a barrel-a feat captured on a video that goes viral-the dysfunctional Parker’s have to do something they never thought possible: act like a real family.

Best Foreign Debut Director

Winner: “The Magician” by Sarah-Jane Potts.

In “The Magician”. a suicidal woman is saved by an unexpected encounter.

Best Debut Canadian Feature

Winner: “The Kissing Game” by Véa.

In “The Kissing Game”, Kate and Sam are best friends, but there’s a tension building in their relationship. When Kate’s sister falls victim to an act of violence, they are determined to bring the perpetrator to justice.

Best of the Fest

Best Foreign Feature

Winner: “A Romantic Guide to Lost Places” by Giorgia Farina.

In “A Romantic Guide to Lost Places”, a man and a woman, two tormented souls, have an encounter and head off together on an extraordinary journey.

“Forbidden Womanhood” by Maryam Zahirimehr w0n an honorable mention in this competition section.

Best Canadian Feature

Winner: “Be Still” by Elizabeth Lazebnik.

In “Be Still”, after the tragic death of her daughter Lily, Hannah searches for ways to reconnect and process her grief through increasingly daring and innovative artistic expression.

Best of Show

Winner: “Carmen” by Valerie Buhagiar.

In “Carmen”, in a small Mediterranean village, Carmen has looked after her brother, the local priest, for her entire life. When the Church abandons Carmen, she is mistaken for the new priest. Carmen begins to see the world, and herself, in a new light.