The Abitibi-Témiscamingue International Film Festival () is an annual film festival which takes place in

Rouyn-Noranda Rouyn-Noranda (; Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population 42,313) is a city on Osisko Lake in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec, Canada. The city of Rouyn-Noranda is coextensive with a territory equivalent to a regional county municipalit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada.Sean Gordon
"How one region in hard-hit Quebec has so little COVID-19 it can hold a film festival"

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, October 30, 2020. It presents a program of Canadian and international films in late October and early November each year. The festival was launched in 1982. It was an expansion of the Semaine du cinéma régional, a festival launched in 1977 which concentrated exclusively on films made in the

Abitibi-Témiscamingue Abitibi-Témiscamingue () is an administrative region located in western Québec, Canada, along the border with Ontario. It became part of the province in 1898. It has a land area of and its population was 147,082 people as of the 2021 cens ...

region. Festival programmer Anne-France Thibault has compared it to the Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival, in that both festivals became popular cultural events and important stops on the Canadian film festival circuit despite having been launched in blue-collar mining communities removed from Canada's traditional cultural meccas. While the

COVID-19 pandemic in Canada The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Most cases over the course o ...

forced nearly all other Canadian film festivals to either cancel their 2020 programs or shift to an online streaming model, the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region's very low rate of COVID-19 cases made it one of the few film festivals in the country that was able to hold physical screenings. Despite the reduced risk,

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dise ...

protocols, including mandatory masks, sanitizer stations and reduced audience sizes, were still maintained for audience safety."L’Abitibi-Témiscamingue fait le pari de présenter un festival de cinéma devant public"

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, October 30, 2020.

Awards

Grand Prix Hydro-Québec

The Grand Prix Hydro-Québec is presented to the film that was voted the most popular by audiences.

Prix Crave

The Prix Crave, formerly the Télébec Prize, is a juried award presented to a film judged as the best short or mid-length film of the festival.

Prix Télé-Québec

The Télé-Québec Volet Espace Court Prize is an audience award presented to the short film by a Quebec director voted most popular with audiences.

TVA Animation Prize

The TVA Animation Prize is an audience award presented to the most popular animated film. The award is most commonly given to shorts, but animated feature films are also eligible if screened at the festival.

Médiafilm Robert-Claude Bérubé Prize

The Médiafilm Robert-Claude Bérubé Prize is presented to a film distinguished by themes of moral, social and ethical values.

Prix SPIRA

The Prix SPIRA, presented for the first time in 2019, is a juried award for short films, whose prize from the SPIRA filmmaking cooperative is $10,000 in equipment and post-production services toward a future project.

Prix Vital

Relève Desjardins

The Relève Desjardins is a $2,000 bursary presented for short local films made by students at the Cégep de l'Abitibi-Témiscamingue and the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue.

Prix Fonds Bell

Prize for

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Prix Unis TV

Prix Jeunesse Fonderie Horne

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abitibi-Témiscamingue International Film Festival Film festivals in Quebec Film festivals established in 1982 Rouyn-Noranda 1982 establishments in Quebec