CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR 2025 AWARD WINNERS
THE BEATING HEART AWARD
The Beating Heart Award recognizes a filmmaker from an equity-seeking group to help support these important voices in film. Women, non-binary, LGBTQ, persons of colour or Indigenous filmmakers are eligible for this award. The recipient is voted on by CLiFF Board members and the award includes a $100.00 CAD prize.
In NOLA, a Black woman working as a sous-chef navigates toxic restaurant culture and her wavering mental health, until a chance encounter changes her.
LABOURSTART AWARD FOR WORKING CLASS SOLIDARITY
2020 was the first year we awarded the LabourStart Award for Working Class Solidarity and it recognizes the festival film that speaks the most to building worker-to-worker global solidarity. This award is funded by LabourStart and the recipient is voted on by the global executive of LabourStart. The award includes a $100 CAD prize.
Working for Freedom is a short documentary that follows an Ottawa-based woman through her experiences of prison labour at the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre. Author of Solidarity behind bars, Jordan House, provides us with an overview of the frameworks that allow these exploitative practices to continue today.
BEST CANADIAN FILM
The Best Canadian Film award recognizes the Canadian film which best meets CLiFF’s purpose of telling stories of workers, unionized and non-unionized, thorough film by sharing the voice of those who seek justice on the job and dignity in the workplace. This award is chosen by Canadian festival attendees. This award includes a $100 CAD prize.
THEY CALLED IT THE BUTCHER SHOP: THE FLECK STRIKE IN IMAGES – In 1978, in Huron Park, Ontario, the women of Fleck Manufacturing walked off of the job and into the history books. Fighting for better wages, safer working conditions, and union security, the strikers embarked on what would become a pivotal strike for both feminism and the labour movement. For five months the strikers faced backlash and police violence, but they also forged new alliances and built community.
BEST-IN-FESTIVAL AWARD
The CLiFF Best-in-Festival Award is the film judged by CLiFF Board members to be the best in the festival. This award carries with it a $100 CAD prize.
In YOUR OWN BOSS, a food delivery worker struggles to juggle his responsibilities as a young father with the impossible demands of an algorithm that pushes him to the limit.
Miguel Cifuentes Radical Change Award
The Miguel Cifuentes Radical Change Award was created in memory of CLiFF’s late board member and a longtime labour activist, Miguel Cifuentes, who passed away in 2014. The award goes to the film that best reflects his passion for social justice and commitment to social change and is chosen by his family. This award carries with it a $100 CAD prize.
THEY CALLED IT THE BUTCHER SHOP: THE FLECK STRIKE IN IMAGES – In 1978, in Huron Park, Ontario, the women of Fleck Manufacturing walked off of the job and into the history books. Fighting for better wages, safer working conditions, and union security, the strikers embarked on what would become a pivotal strike for both feminism and the labour movement. For five months the strikers faced backlash and police violence, but they also forged new alliances and built community.