The eighth annual Okotoks Film Festival is officially underway.
The event, which runs from June 5 to 9, kicked off on Wednesday, June 5 with a screening of Edmonton filmmaker Aleem Karmali's documentary Thrown Into Canada followed by a late-night launch party at Hub Town Brewing.
During the party, the recipients of this year's awards were announced. The winners are as follows:
Best Picture - Wireless (Jose Puchades, Julieta Gasroc and David Maqueda)
Best Performance - Amira Chebli, La voix de autres
Best Screenplay - La voix de autres (Fatima Kaci and Pablo Laridon)
Best Animation - Manga Girls (Yuki Kedoin and Takashi Okado)
Best Documentary - Little Sahara Emilio Martí López)
Best Visual Effects - The Lovers (Bernat Fontanals Seguro)
Best Cinematography - Once You Pop (Sara Gallego)
Best Editing - Once You Pop (Miquel Bixquert)
Best Art Dec - Wireless (Vincente Andreu)
Best Overall Sound - Solo un ensayo (Daniel Gracia and Sergio López Eraña)
An additional award for a youth filmmaker will be presented following the Next-Gen Screening on Thursday, June 6 at 7 p.m.
Through the festival's five-day run, a whopping 81 films will be screened at Okotoks Cinemas, with an impressive amount of local and international films.
"We literally have every continent but Antarctica represented at our festival at some point in the international portion," said festival director Katie Fournell.
This year's festival will feature more local films than it ever has, with 17 films from Alberta, including eight from the Foothills, being screened.
Learn more about the Okotoks Film Festival on its website.
