"Claude Jutra Award" redirects here. Not to be confused with
Prix Jutra.
The John Dunning Best First Feature Award is a special
Canadian film award, presented by the
Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the year's best feature film by a first-time film director. Under the earlier names Claude Jutra Award and Canadian Screen Award for Best First Feature, the award has been presented since the
14th Genie Awards in 1993.[1][2]
Formerly a
juried prize whose winner was announced in advance of the ceremony, the award is now presented as a conventional category with a full shortlist of nominees.
The award was originally named in memory of
Claude Jutra, a Canadian film director who died in 1986.[3] Formerly part of the
Genie Awards ceremonies, the Claude Jutra Award was transitioned to be part of the new
Canadian Screen Awards in 2013.
Following the February 2016 publication of
Yves Lever's biography of Jutra, which contained allegations that Jutra had sexually abused underage children during his lifetime, the Academy announced that it was removing Jutra's name from the award.[4]Québec Cinéma also removed Jutra's name from its
Prix Jutra ceremonies on the same day.[4]
Beginning with the
4th Canadian Screen Awards in 2016, the award was presented as the Canadian Screen Award for Best First Feature. In the same year the John Dunning Discovery Award, named in memory of film producer
John Dunning, was introduced to honour
microbudget films. Initially it was a separate award from the Best First Feature category, with the two awards presented alongside each other to different films,[5] until the two awards were merged under the John Dunning Best First Feature Award name beginning with the
7th Canadian Screen Awards in 2019.
^Maria Topalovich, And the Genie Goes To...: Celebrating 50 Years of the Canadian Film Awards.
Stoddart Publishing, 2000.
ISBN0-7737-3238-1. pp. 199-203.
Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television Note: Awards by year articles are listed here by the year of eligibility for nomination; due to variable scheduling of the ceremonies, this is not always the same year in which the awards were presented.