Judges listened to the pitches and asked the tough questions, but in the end five teams impressed enough to take home a share of the $54-thousand prize pool, presented Saturday (Sept 20) evening as part of CIFF 2025.
The winners are:
- $12,000 Luke Simms of Subject Change Catalyst, a series of documentaries on Calgary tech and gaming
- $10,000 Saadiqah Omar, Reel Documentaries, a documentary filmmaking workshop for young creators
- $8,000 Mauricio Flores of MF Media, a podcasting service aimed at industry groups $8,000
The TC Energy Female Founders accelerator awards of $8,000 each, for female lead teams that embody creativity and innovation:
- Isa and Anavi of Villa Cartoon, a Spanish language video pod series with tutorials and BTS of animation
- Claudia Bognar of Sport Tails, animated adventure stories about overcoming challenges
- Saadiqah Omar of Reel Documentaries, a documentary filmmaking workshop for young creators
Building on a previous award winning program she ran in South Africa, Saadiqah Omar's Reel Documentaries took home a total of$18-thousand in seed money.
The panel of judges included famed veteran cartoon and theatre writer Steven T Seagle.
"They took very difficult questions easily and had answers," Seagle said. "The idea that you're putting people together and having them watch other people's pitches and building this collective - there's already people who are working with other people on things. That's very smart.
