Article

Canadian Screen Award for Best First Feature

Updated by Andrew Mcintosh

Published Online March 7, 2010

Last Edited March 17, 2016

The Canadian Screen Award for Best First Feature is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television to recognize the year's best feature film by a first-time director.

The Canadian Screen Award for Best First Feature is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television to recognize the year's best feature film by a first-time director. The winner is selected by a jury of Canadian filmmakers and announced in advance of the awards ceremony.

Originally known as the Claude Jutra Award, it was presented by the Genie Awards from 1993 until 2012. It was then bestowed by the Canadian Screen Awards from 2013 to 2015. In 2016, the name was changed following posthumous allegations that Jutra was a pedophile.

Winners

The following list includes the year the award was presented, the director and the title of the film. The award was presented twice in 1996 — at the 16th Genie Awards on 14 January and at the 17th Genie Awards on 27 November.

1993 — John Pozer, The Grocer's Wife

1994 — Michel Poulette, Louis 19, le roi des ondes (Louis The 19th: King Of The Airwaves)

1995 — awards ceremony not held

1996 — Robert Lepage, Le Confessionnal (The Confessional)

1996 — Peter Wellington, Joe's So Mean to Josephine

1997 — Thom Fitzgerald, The Hanging Garden

1998 — awards ceremony not held

1999 — Don McKellar, Last Night

2000 — Louis Bélanger, Post Mortem

2001 — Philippe Falardeau, La Moitié gauche du frigo (The Left-Hand Side of the Fridge)

2002 — Zacharias Kunuk, Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner)

2003 — Keith Behrman, Flower & Garnet

2004 — Sébastien Rose, Comment ma mère accoucha de moi durant sa ménopause (How My Mother Gave Birth to Me During Menopause)

2005 — Daniel Roby, La Peau blanche (White Skin)

2006 — Louise Archambault, Familia

2007 — (tie) Julia Kwan, Eve and the Fire Horse and Stéphane Lapointe, La Vie secrète des gens heureux (The Secret Life of Happy People)

2008 — Sarah Polley, Away From Her

2009 — Yves-Christian Fournier, Tout est Parfait (Everything is Fine)

2010 — Xavier Dolan, J'ai tué ma mère (I Killed My Mother)

2011 — Jephté Bastien, Sortie 67 (Exit 67)

2012 — Anne Émond, Nuit #1 (Night #1)

2013 — Jason Buxton, Blackbird

2014 — Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais, Whitewash

2015 — Jeffrey St. Jules, Bang Bang Baby

2016 — Jamie M. Dagg, River