‘A Mother Apart’ Wins Top Prize At Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival Awards

Valerie Complex
·3-min read

EXCLUSIVE: The 2024 Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival has revealed the award winners for the 34th edition of the festival, with $22,500 in prizes handed out to various 2SLGBTQ+ filmmakers. Laurie Townshend’s A Mother Apart, received three awards including Best First Feature and Best Canadian Feature juried awards as well as Audience Award for Best Documentary. Susie Yankou’s Sisters received the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature, and Simon Gualtieri’s Friend of a Friend (Ami d’ami) won the Best Canadian Short Film.

The festival also announced Andrew Chappelle’s upcoming project, I’m Gonna Kill You, which won the annual “Pitch, Please!” contest. The “Pitch, Please!” competition took place in person on June 1 with competitors from across the globe presenting a short, two-minute pitch to a jury and audience. Prizes awarded to the winner include a cash production grant of $5,000 sponsored by Netflix.

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The 34th edition of Inside Out took place in person and virtually from May 24 to June 1 and continues virtually to June 5. The festival showcased 106 films from 25 countries, including 30 feature films and 5 world premieres. This year’s festival opened with Amazon MGM Studio’s My Old Ass – Megan Park’s sophomore feature, starring Aubrey Plaza, Maisy Stella and Maddie Ziegler, and closed with the Canadian premiere of Karen Knox’s sophomore feature, We Forgot To Break Up, a love letter to Toronto’s indie music scene.

The 2024 award winners are:

CANADIAN JURIED AWARDS

The jurors for the 2024 Canadian jury were Syriah Bailey, Beth Warrian, and Jay Wu.

Emerging Canadian Artist – Sponsored by RBC Royal Bank
I’ll Tell You When I’m Ready – Hayley Morin 
$5,000 cash prize presented to an early career Canadian filmmaker.

Best Canadian Feature – Sponsored by DGC National
A Mother Apart – Laurie Townshend 
$3,000 cash award presented to a Canadian artist for their feature-length narrative or documentary film.

Best Canadian Short – Sponsored by Warner Brothers Discovery
Friend of a Friend (Ami d’ami) – Simon Gualtieri
$2,000 cash award presented to a Canadian filmmaker for their short-form narrative or documentary film.

INTERNATIONAL JURIED AWARDS
The jurors for the 2024 International jury were Loveleen Kaur, V.T. Nayani, and Alex Schmider.

Best First Feature – Sponsored by NBC Universal
A Mother Apart – Laurie Townshend
$3,000 cash award presented to the International Jury’s selection for best film by a first-time feature director.

AUDIENCE AWARDS – sponsored by Paramount+

Best Narrative Feature – Sponsored by Paramount+
Sisters – Susie Yankou
$2,500 cash award presented to the audience’s favourite feature-length film.

Best Documentary Feature – Sponsored by Paramount+
A Mother Apart – Laurie Townshend
$2,500 cash award presented to the audience’s favourite feature-length documentary film.

Best Short – Sponsored by Paramount+
The History of the Carabiner – Gianna Mazzeo
$1,000 cash award presented to the audience’s favourite film within a shorts program.

LEADERSHIP CIRCLE PRIZE FOR OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE

Young Hearts – Lou Goossens 
$1,000 cash award presented by the Leadership Circle for the most outstanding performance by an actor in a feature-length narrative film.

PITCH, PLEASE! – Sponsored by Netflix.
The jurors for the 2024 jury were Sarah Barzak, Lindsay Blair Goeldner, and Dylan Mitro.

I’m Gonna Kill You – Andrew Chappelle
$5,000 production grant presented to the filmmaker with the best two-minute pitch at the Pitch, Please! competition.

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