The prizes awarded by the professional jury include the Grand Prize, the Canadian Grand Prize, the Jury Prize, the Best animation short film, the Best documentary short film.
Evelyne Brochu
Actress
Evelyne is one of Quebec’s most acclaimed artists. Several of her standout television performances have earned her three Gémeaux Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress, as well as the award for Best Actress in a Television Series. On television, she has appeared in ORPHAN BLACK, TROP, and CHOUCHOU, as well as IN MEMORIAM and DÉTECTIVE SURPRENANT II.
In theatre, she has distinguished herself in several notable productions, including TOM AT THE FARM, THE IDIOT, and THE THREE SISTERS. In cinema, she made a remarkable debut with POLYTECHNIQUE, directed by Denis Villeneuve, and CAFÉ DE FLORE, directed by Jean-Marc Vallée.
In 2012, she starred in the feature film INCH’ALLAH, which won the FIPRESCI Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival. Her performance also earned her a nomination at the Prix écrans canadiens. The following year, she received another Canadian Screen Award nomination for her role in TOM AT THE FARM, directed by Xavier Dolan.
In 2022, she played the lead role in FRENCH GIRL, a Netflix production, alongside Zach Braff and Vanessa Hudgens. In 2023, she portrayed Michelle in PHÉNIX, directed by Jonathan Beaulieu-Cyr, followed by HANTÉE, directed by Rafaël Ouellet, in 2025.
In addition to her acting career, Evelyne is also an accomplished singer, with two albums to her credit: OBJETS PERDUS (2019) and LE DANGER (2023).
Picture © Shayne Laverdière
Chloé Leriche
Filmmaker
Chloé Leriche holds a unique place in Quebec’s independent cinema. A self-taught filmmaker, she writes, directs, edits, and produces her films. After studying philosophy, she made her first short film, La réplique, then joined Kino, where she presented twelve no-budget short films produced over the course of a single year.
She subsequently spent nearly ten years with Vidéo Paradiso, supporting youth experiencing homelessness in the creation of their own films. She also worked with First Nations youth through the Wapikoni Mobile. This formative experience led her to write Before the Streets (Avant les rues), her first feature-length fiction film, which premiered at the Berlinale in 2016 and received numerous awards.
In 2023, she renewed her collaboration with the Atikamekw Council of Manawan with Soleils Atikamekw, which recounts a tragic event that has remained unresolved since 1977, raises the issue of systemic racism within our institutions, and went on to win 27 awards. Among these honors, Chloé Leriche became the first woman filmmaker to receive the Luc-Perreault/AQCC Critics’ Award for Best Quebec Film of the Year for a second time.
Picture © Martin Savoie
Vladim Vilain
Visual artist and photographer
Vladim Vilain is a visual artist and photographer based in Montreal. Born in Haiti and raised between the Caribbean and Canada, his artistic work explores questions of identity, memory, and culture through an Afro-surrealist aesthetic. His practice has received awards and public support. In parallel, he works in commercial photography in the fields of fashion, music, and television, collaborating with artists and cultural institutions.
Picture © Zach Phan
Jasper Hokken
Programmer at the International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam
Jasper Hokken is a programmer at IDFA, where he is responsible for IDFA’s Short Documentary Competition and the short film selections for Best of Fests, Signed, Frontlight, and Luminous. Between 2019-2024 he curated the IDFA on Stage program, which presented unique live events that explored the space between documentary cinema, new media, and performing arts.
Before that, he worked on IDFA’s Music Documentary program and concert series in collaboration with the Melkweg music venue. He holds an MA degree in Preservation and Presentation of the Moving Image from the University of Amsterdam.
Jing Haase
short film expert
Holding a master’s degree in Film Studies as well as in German Language, Culture and Literature, Jing has worked in a wide range of festival roles, from programmer to Festival Director of the Aarhus Film Festival. During the same period, she also worked in production on short films, feature-length fiction films, and documentaries.
In 2007, she was appointed Market Director of Nordisk Panorama, with a mandate focused on industry relations and the international distribution of Nordic short films and documentaries. In 2017, she relocated to Sweden, where she worked for seven years at the Swedish Film Institute, focusing on the international promotion of Swedish short films.
Today, Jing Haase is regularly invited to film festivals around the world, both as a moderator or panelist and as a jury member.
The jury of the Focus Competition awards the five prizes related to the five sections of this competition: Shoot No Matter What, 100% Regions, Americana, Short & Queer and Indigenous Perspectives
Émile Schneider
Actor
A graduate of the Theatre School at Cégep de Saint-Hyacinthe, Émile began his film career with After the Snow (Après la neige), directed by Paul Barbeau. He gained critical attention for his leading role in Where Attila Passes… (Là où Atilla passe…) by Onur Karaman, alongside Roy Dupuis, followed by Kiss Me Like You Love Me (Embrasse-moi comme tu m’aimes) by André Forcier, which earned him the Roy Dupuis Award at Cinémaniak in 2017. He later reunited with the director for Forgotten Flowers (Les fleurs oubliées) and Ababouiné.
Among his other notable film roles are The Angels’ Pact (Le pacte des anges), A Splendor of Living (Une splendeur de vivre), and Hurricane F.Y.T. (L’Ouragan F.Y.T.).
In 2021, he portrayed François Paradis in Maria Chapdelaine, directed by Sébastien Pilote, a performance that earned him a nomination at the Québec Cinema Awards. On television, Émile has appeared in numerous acclaimed series, including Le Monstre, Le Chalet, Victor Lessard, L’Académie, Les Armes, Stat, After the Flood (Après le Déluge), L’Échappée, and District 31.
He is also the creator and lead actor of the series La loi c’est la loi, broadcast on TV5 and selected at several festivals, including Séries Mania in France.
On stage, he has distinguished himself in productions such as The Iliad (directed by Marc Beaupré), Dead Poets Society (directed by Sébastien David), Blood by Lars Norén (directed by Brigitte Haentjens), and Au cœur de la rose.
Picture © Fred Gervais-Dupuis
Eruoma Awashish
Visual artist
Eruoma Awashish is an Atikamekw Nehirowisiw visual artist holding a bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Art from Université du Québec à Chicoutimi. Notably awarded the Contemporary Art Prize from the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, she has exhibited internationally, including at the Révélations Biennale at the Grand Palais in Paris (2023) and at the MURA Museum in Mexico.
Having grown up in Opitciwan and now based in Mashteuiatsh, her artistic practice seeks to decolonize the sacred by creating spaces for dialogue around Indigenous cultures. She employs a metaphorical language in which spirituality, symbolism, and syncretism converge to reinterpret and Indigenize Catholic religious symbols, asserting renewed Indigenous resilience and identity.
Picture © Nadya Kwandibens
Patrick Bouchard
Filmmaker
Originally from Saguenay, Patrick Bouchard studied arts at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, where he completed an interdisciplinary bachelor’s degree. During this period, he developed a strong interest in animated filmmaking and created an early experiment titled Jean Levieriste (1998). He soon turned to stop-motion animation and directed his first professional film, Les ramoneurs cérébraux (2002), a work that is both humorous and unsettling, evoking the psychological torments of a musician. The film earned him the Jutra Award for Best Animated Short Film and marked the beginning of a critically acclaimed career.
He followed with Dehors novembre (2005), inspired by a song by the band Les Colocs. The film received a Jutra Award and was selected for competition at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. In 2007, Patrick Bouchard co-directed Révérence with writer and filmmaker Martin-Rodolphe Villeneuve, a dark fable portraying a society doomed by bourgeois selfishness and indifference. That same year, he created Talon d’argile in just 24 hours, an experimental piece in which clay figures undergo constant transformations.
This experience led to Bydlo (2012), a musical film centered on animated clay modeling. Selected for major festivals including TIFF and Annecy, the film won numerous awards and earned Bouchard his third Jutra Award. With Le sujet (2018), undoubtedly his most personal work, he continued his collaboration with the National Film Board of Canada. The film was screened at the Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes and received the Iris Award for Best Animated Film, along with several international distinctions. Alongside his filmmaking career, Patrick Bouchard occasionally teaches animation at the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi and collaborates on various artistic projects.
Tom-Éliot Girard
Actor
For more than 15 years, Tom-Éliot has nurtured a true passion for acting. Versatile and curious, he enjoys pushing his limits and exploring new horizons.
He began acting at the age of 5 in the musical Décembre, which he performed in for seven years, followed by a tour with Neuf by Denise Filiatraut. On television, he quickly gained attention in cult series such as Kaboum, Les Argonautes, 30 vies, and District 31.
A singer and musician, he won over the general public on La Voix in 2020. He has also appeared in Lou et Sophie, Pour toujours, plus un jour, Chaos, and Indéfendable. In 2025, his role as Xavier in T-Rex earned him the Gémeaux Award for Best Leading Role in an Original Digital Media Production. A singer-songwriter, he co-wrote and performed the series’ signature song.
As a voice actor, Tom-Éliot can be heard in several American and Canadian productions adapted for Quebec audiences.
Picture © Gaëlle Leroyer
Nadia Louis-Desmarchais
Filmmaker
Nadia is an award-winning Afro-feminist filmmaker who strives to give a voice to those who are too often denied one. Drawing from her life experiences, she transforms her personal journey into sensitive and politically engaged storytelling.
She has directed the documentary short films Le monde est à elles, Raconte-moi mon corps, Urban, and the controversial Rated X, as well as the fiction short films Nid d’oiseau and Dors-tu?, all of which have been widely acclaimed at festivals and received multiple awards. As the director of the anthology series Black Life: A Canadian History, broadcast on CBC, Nadia asserts an artistic signature that is both intimate and political.
A recipient of the Gémeaux Award for a Series that Distinguished Itself Internationally, she made her television debut with the fiction series Les Météorites. Selected for the prestigious DOC NYC festival and winner of both the Audience Award and the Student Jury Award at RIDM, A Thousand Colors is her first feature-length documentary.
Pia Zurita
film programmer and director of the Ecuadorian Film Festival Kunturñawi
Pía Zurita is a cultural manager and film programmer based in Ecuador. She holds a master’s degree in Cultural Management from the Universidad Andina Simón Bolívar (Bolivia). She is the co-founder of Fundación Arte Nativo and serves as director of the Ecuadorian Film Festival Kunturñawi, as well as the children and youth film festival Wawas al Cine.
Since 2007, she has been developing film clubs and audience development initiatives in educational and community-based contexts. She is a member of the Ecuadorian Film Academy and has served as a jury member at various national film markets and festivals.
The AQCC Critics Jury is back for an eight year to award the Quebec Critics Award AQCC to a short film of its choice among the international films in the Official Competition.
Marie-Claude Mirandette
Film critic
Trained in fashion design (DEC), art history (undergrad, M.A. and Ph.D. coursework) and film studies (minor and M.A.), Marie Claude teaches film and photography at the college level.
A long-time journalist and critic, she has contributed over the years to various cultural publications (Ciné-Bulles, Vie des Arts, Le Devoir, Etc. Média, Alibis, EnRoute, Elle Québec, etc.) and scholarly journals (The Print Quarterly, The Scholarly Journal on Prints).
A programming advisor at FIFA (Festival International du Film sur l’Art), she is a founding member of the non-profit organization Les Amis de la Place Marcelle Ferron (Outremont), dedicated to promoting art in public spaces, and sits on the standing committee on cultural land-use planning, Culture Montréal (dedicated to art in public spaces), as a freelance curator.
Martin Gignac
Film critic
Journalist and film critic for over two decades, Martin has written for numerous media outlets (La Presse, Métro, Voir, ICI...), currently lending his pen to Cinoche, Ciné-Bulles and Requiem pour un film.
He is also the author of the book Arrêt sur l'image: 41 portraits de cinéastes québécois and the coauthor of Le cinéma québécois par ceux qui le font. With cinema, it's possible to talk about anything and it help him to live better.
Miguel De Plante
Film critic
Since graduating with a Bachelor of Cinema from the Université du Québec à Montréal, Miguel has worked as a genre film director and editor (most recently editor of the feature film version of Rémi Fréchette's Tie Man (2024)). He collaborates with several independant media outlets such as Horreur Québec and Cinémaniak, when he's not dedicating the rest of his time to his Letterboxd profile.
A member of AQCC since last year, he was part of the jury for the Fantasia Film Festival in 2025, after having been a programmer for the Quebec section of the festival for 4 years.
Consisting of three members, this jury will award one of the Canadian Short Films in the Official Competition with the International FIPRESCI Critics Award.
Johanna Schneller
Film critic
Based in Toronto, Johanna Schneller is one of North America’s most respected cultural journalists. Having profiled many of cinema’s leading figures—including Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Julianne Moore, Jeff Bridges and Nicole Kidman—her cover stories have appeared in major magazines such as Vanity Fair, InStyle, Premiere and Zoomer.
Johanna is the first woman to serve as president of the Toronto Film Critics Association. She co-hosted CBC’s summer series The Filmmakers, as well as TVO’s renowned film series Saturday Night at the Movies. She also regularly conducts on-stage interviews for TIFF, the Directors Guild of Canada and the Toronto Public Library.
Her weekly column Bigger Picture, published in The Globe and Mail, has been nominated five times for the National Newspaper Awards and won in 2021. As a screenwriter, she has worked on adaptations of Sailor Girl, Every Lost Country, Girl Crazy and The Girls in the Balcony. She is also the co-author of the best-selling book Uncontrollable, about Toronto’s controversial former mayor Rob Ford, as well as the bestseller Woman Enough, which chronicles transgender cyclist Kristen Worley’s legal battle.
Kalash Nanda Kumar
Film critic
Kalash Nanda Kumar is a Malaysian journalist and critic. He graduated with a degree in filmmaking, and gained formative experience in major productions for Warner Bros., BBC One, and Astro Shaw.
Subsequently, as a journalist and correspondent, he has written extensively on legal institutions, Indigenous rights, and climate change. His bylines can be found in various outlets such as The Star, R.AGE, Malaysiakini, The Vibes, Cineuropa, FirstClasse, among other publications. In his capacity as a critic and film writer, he has interviewed and profiled award-winning filmmakers and reported from around the world, including Armenia, India, Taiwan and Cannes. Kalash is an alumnus of various talent labs such as GAIFF Pro, Udine Critics Campus, Cineuropa GoCritics program, and Yamagata IDFF Criticism Workshop. As recognition of his work in criticism, Kalash became the first Malaysian to be invited into the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) and selected as an International Voter for the Golden Globe Awards.
His work has been generously supported by grants and fellowships from Asia-Europe Foundation, EngageMedia (Philippines), National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS), Climate Tracker, Freedom Film Network, Earth Journalism Network, Malaysia Reform Initiative, USAID, US Embassy Kuala Lumpur and more. Beyond journalism, Kalash advocates for policy reform through affiliations with non-profits. He was a founding member and former communications director for Imagined Malaysia. He is a member of NETPAC, MyDocs, PEN Malaysia, and NUJ Malaysia. He is oriented towards cinema that serves community imaginaries, building on neohumanist principles of care and universal fraternity.
Marco Lombardi
Film critic
Born in Turin, 1962, Marco is a film and food critic (Il Messaggero, Di Testa e di Gola, Cinecritica, Radio Roma Capitale), and author and presenter of “Come ti cucino un film”, a TV show aired on Gambero Rosso Channel (Sky). He teaches "Cultural and Lifestyle Journalism" in Sapienza university. He has written essays (Saporama - il senso del cibo per un film, 2026; La Cinegustologia e il Media Entertainment, 2020; Gustose visioni, 2014) and novels (I nuovi amici, 2009; Terremotività, 2014; GiokaconMe, 2019; Ti ho lasciato il minestrone in garage, 2021).
He was the co-producer and co-screenwriter of Into the blue, a film by Emiliano Dante released in 2009, and director of Fried by the star, a short that was shown at BIF&ST 2012, got Cinecibo Award 2022 and Asti Film Festival award 2023, and now is on Amazon Prime Video.
From 2005 to 2008 he was programmer of the Critic's week in Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica di Venezia.