News

2026 ALFF Awards

February 20, 2026

The Available Light Film Festival (ALFF) announces the Made in the North, ALFF Pitch Prize winner and ALFF audience choice awards following the close of the 24th annual festival on Sunday, February 15. This year’s 10-day festival featured 90+ films; 64 screenings; 50+ Guest filmmakers; 20+ Yukon-made films; 23 ALFF Industry Forum events; and 3 ALFF Live Performances. Attendance included: 6000+ filmgoers, 200 at media art exhibitions, 700+ at ALFF Industry, and 450+ at ALFF live performances. Total attendance this year exceeded 7100 admissions for all ALFF events. 

Made in the North award winners

The Available Light Film Festival is proud to celebrate underrepresented Canadian filmmakers through its Made in the North awards. Eligibility is open to all feature films and short films in Official Selection by Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, disabled and LGBTQ2S+ filmmakers in Canada. Each winner receives a cash award in celebration of their contributions to Canadian cinema. Forty Canadian Films were eligible for $4,000 in prizes this year. A jury of diverse filmmakers selected the award-winning films in the following three categories: 

BEST CANADIAN FEATURE FILM

(sponsored by Kobayashi + Zedda Architects)
Winner: Wrong Husband, dir. Zacharias Kunuk
Special Mention: Saints and Warriors dir. Patrick Shannon

PRIZE: $2,000

BEST CANADIAN SHORT FILM

(sponsored by Canada Media Fund)
Winner: Klee, dir. Gavin Baird
Special Mention: Gods & Devils dir. Jay Cardinal Villeneuve

PRIZE: $1,000

BEST NORTHERN SHORT FILM

(sponsored by the Yukon Film Society)
Winner: Fast and the RCrious, dir. Douglas Joe
Special Mention: Shades of Darkness, dir. Robert Joe

PRIZE: $1,000

 

ALFF Audience Choice Awards

Fifty-seven festival films were eligible for the ALFF Audience Choice Awards. ALFF audiences cast ballots for their favourite feature films in the following three categories: 

BEST CANADIAN DOCUMENTARY

Winner: The Art of Adventure, dir. Alison Reid

Top 5: The Art of Adventure, Beyond the Left Hand Path, Nechako: It Will Be A Big River Again, Saints and Warriors, King Arthur's Knight

BEST CANADIAN FEATURE FICTION

Winner: Meadowlarks, dir. Tasha Hubbard

Top 5: Meadowlarks, Dancing On the Elephant, Nirvanna the Band, the Show, the Movie, Nika & Madison, Tracy and Martina: Goin' Out West

BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM

Winner: Champions of the Golden Valley, dir. Ben Sturgulewski

Top 5: Champions of the Golden Valley, Mr. Nobody Against Putin, Köln 75, Palestine 36, Late Shift

ALFF TOP TWENTY Audience Choice films:

1. The Art of Adventure

2. Beyond the Left Hand Path

3. Nechako: It Will Be A Big River Again

4. Champions of the Golden Valley

5. Mr. Nobody Against Putin

6. Saints and Warriors

7. Meadowlarks

8. King Arthur's Knight

9. Köln 75

10. Mordern Whore

11. Palestine 36

12. The Painted Life of E.J. Hughes

13. The Track

14. Late Shift

15. Agatha's Almanac

16. Dancing on the Elephant

17. Sentimental Value

18. Mammoth Hunters

19. Folktales

20. Nirvanna the Band, the Show, the Movie

ALFF Pitch Prizes

Two ALFF Pitch Prizes were awarded  at the ALFF 2026 Short Film Pitch Event on Saturday February 7. The pitch for Robert Joe's project The Vortex won the Northwestel Fiction Prize competition out in a field of three outstanding projects pitched by diverse teams from Whitehorse. Robert receives $7,500 in cash and $5,000 in in-kind support from Northwestel Community TV, Screen Production Yukon Association and the Yukon Film Society. Mira Siriois's project Banana Junction won the Tracey Freisen Documentary Prize which includes $1000 in cash provided Canadian Media Producers Association BC and $2500 in-kind support from Yukon FIlm Society.