Québécois producer Nancy Grant and up and coming filmmaker Anam Abbas have been announced as the winners of this year’s Indiescreen Awards.
Handed out annually by the Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA), in partnership with Telefilm Canada, the awards recognize outstanding independent Canadian film producers.
Presented at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on Thursday evening – Grant, the co-founder of Montreal-based Metafilms – was named the recipient of the Established Producer Award, which comes with a $20,000 cash prize. Recognized for her contributions to the Canadian production sector and her steadfast support of emerging filmmakers, her production credits include Falcon Lake (2022), The Death and Life of John F. Donovan (2018), and Felix & Meira (2014). Grant’s latest feature film, Simple Comme Sylvain (The Nature of Love), directed by Monia Chokri, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year and will have its North American premiere at TIFF.
Pakistani-Canadian filmmaker Abbas is the winner of the 2023 Kevin Tierney Emerging Producer Award. Her latest project, In Flames, also premiered at Cannes and will be screening at TIFF. Abbas’ first feature, under the banner of her production company Other Memory Media, was 2020’s Showgirls of Pakistan. The Emerging Producer Award comes with a $10,000 cash prize.
“The Indiescreen Awards bring the industry together to honour the extraordinary talent of Canada’s independent producers who give blood, sweat and tears to bring to life the incredible stories that inspire us all,” said CMPA President and CEO Reynolds Mastin, in a release. “Congratulations to the winners—we are thrilled to celebrate and recognize your impressive accomplishments and your contributions to the domestic production sector and beyond.”
The award winners were selected by two national juries, each chaired by last year’s CMPA Indiescreen Award winners, Damon D’Oliveira, and Sara Blake, Magali Gillon-Krizaj and Tyler Hagan, respectively.
To be eligible, nominees must have acted as a producer on a Canadian feature film that premiered in the 2023 calendar year.
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