Montreal – The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is pleased to announce that two of its productions have won an award at the 27th Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM). This year’s closing film, Ninan Auassat: Nous, les enfants (Ninan Auassat: We, the Children, NFB), a celebration of the power and vitality of Indigenous youth by Abenaki filmmaker Kim O’Bomsawin, won the Magnus Isacsson Award. Anishinaabe filmmaker Lisa Wilfred Buck (Door Number 3 Productions/NFB), which follows the extraordinary life of a Cree Elder, received the Women Inmates’ Jury Award.
The Magnus Isacsson Jury comprised Helgi Piccinin (DOC Québec), Marie-France Laval (ARRQ), Adèle Foglia (Funambules Médias), Ryan Aller-Bishop (Cinema Politica), Vincent Toi (Main Film) and Jocelyne Clarke (producer, filmmaker and editor).
The Women Inmates’ Jury was composed of six inmates from the Joliette Institution for Women, the only federal women’s penitentiary in Quebec. They selected their favourite documentary out of five films from the 2024 edition of RIDM. This initiative was implemented by RIDM in 2011.
RIDM took place from November 20 to December 1, 2024. Ninan Auassat: We, the Children will have its theatrical release in spring 2025. Wilfred Buck is available on Crave.