Winners announced for screenings at inaugural Sundar Prize Film Festival, June 15 and 16
New showcase of cinema that inspires social change highlights nine films from Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. at Surrey City Hall
Rosie, winner of Best Feature Film at this year’s Sundar Prize Film Festival.
THE INAUGURAL Sundar Prize Film Festival, a showcase of cinema that inspires social change, has just unveiled the lineup for its debut edition, themed Celebrating Human Resilience.
The brand-new Metro Vancouver festival, cofounded by filmmakers Alex Sangha and Vinay Giridhar, recognizes films from around the world that raise awareness of social issues, providing a platform for filmmakers to inspire action with impactful, empathetic storytelling.
Nine winners across different categories were selected out of 228 submissions from around the world. Drawn from official selections at the Toronto International Film Festival, Hot Docs Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival, and Vancouver Asian Film Festival, the nine prize-winning films will be screened at Centre Stage at Surrey City Hall on June 15 and 16.
Three of the categories at Sundar Prize Film Festival—Best BC Film, Best Canadian Documentary, and Best Emerging Filmmaker—are awarded exclusively to Canadian films.
Rematriation (2022).
Director-producer Dalj Brar’s 2023 feature Dil Rakh: Gloves of Kin took home the prize for Best BC Film. The drama follows an Indian father, newly released from a 20-year prison sentence into a small town pervaded with racism, as he works toward reconciling with his son.
Director Jason Loftus’s 2022 animated documentary Eternal Spring was awarded Best Canadian Documentary, after receiving its North American premiere at Hot Docs Festival and being selected for the 2023 Oscars as Canada’s entry for Best International Feature Film. The feature, based on a true story, follows a Chinese spiritual-group-turned-activists as they devise a plan to hack into state television when their religious freedom and human rights are threatened.
Cash Cows, director Shubham Chhabra’s 2023 short film of resilience and sacrifice, secured the Best Emerging Filmmaker residency prize, sponsored by KDocsFF. The story centres an Indian immigrant as he pursues his permanent residency in Canada, but falls victim to an employment scam.
A Good Day Will Come.
Three more Canadian films also earned titles at this year’s festival. Director Gail Maurice’s Rosie, a 1980s Montreal-based account of an orphaned Indigenous girl’s living situation, won Best Feature Film. Director Amir Zargara’s A Good Day Will Come secured Best Short Film, with its tumultuous tale of a professional wrestler grappling with how to use his fame in a country whose people are suffering. And director Alexi Liotti’s Rematriation, which delves into the fight to protect B.C.’s old-growth forests through a variety of perspectives, was awarded Best Environmental Film.
Three international films took home titles as well. U.K. director-brothers Luke and Rufus Dye-Montefiore won Best Animation with Unstoppable Beat, which tells the story of a Haitian migrant in Brazil. U.S. director Radha Mehta’s DOSH—which involves an at-risk son, a pre-wedding ritual, and a hard-of-hearing mother—secured Best Student Film. And Best International Documentary category was awarded to U.S. director-producer Mochi Lin’s Swallow Flying to the South, a film that follows five-year-old Swallow’s emotional desertion at a Beijing public boarding preschool circa 1976.
Cash prizes will be awarded to the filmmakers throughout the festival, and Closing Night on June 16 will conclude with a celebratory Community Reception with Indian fusion food.
Day-pass tickets to the Sundar Prize Film Festival are available for purchase online, along with detailed information about this year’s finalists and winners. 
Related Articles
