Earlier this week, Regard – Saguenay International Short Film Festival announced its full programme. One of North America’s most prominent events of its kind, the Canadian gathering will run from 20-24 March this year. The 2024 line-up includes 35 sub-programmes showcasing a total of 205 films from 56 different countries.

“With nearly 60 exclusives and a selection of the year’s best films, the ten programmes of the official competition are both highly topical and brimming with creativity,” states Regard’s official press release. The festival promises: “A panoply of genres and emotions can be found in this selection of the year’s best Canadian and international films.”

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The European titles being showcased in the official competition are Jan Bitzer’s Bye Bear (Germany), Line Pillet’s Window (Belgium), Heta Jäälinoja’s Nun or Never (Finland), Abbas Taheri’s There Is No Friend’s House (France/Iran), Bernhard Wenger’s Recordings of a Weather Camera (Austria), Gunnur Martinsdóttir Schlüter’s Fár (Iceland), Mauritz Brekke Solberg and Daniel Fure Schwarz’s Offline (Norway), Aylin Gökmen’s Ever Since, I Have Been Flying (Switzerland), Selma Sunniva’s An Example (Denmark), Jan-David Bolt’s God’s Anus (Switzerland), Valentin Noujaïm’s Pacific Club (France), Stephen Vuillemin’s A Kind of Testament (France), Philip Ullman’s Preoperational Model (Netherlands), Nina Gantz’s Wander to Wonder (Netherlands), Nienke Deutz’s The Miracle (France/Belgium), Carla Melo Gampert’s La Perra (France/Colombia), Mariana Bártolo and Guillermo García López’s Seagulls Cut Through the Sky (France/Portugal), Eva Pedrosa and Fanny Sorgo’s Tako Tsubo (Germany/Austria), and Nathan Ghali’s Lick a Wound (France).

This year, Regard is also launching Indigenous Perspectives, a brand-new focus competition that will showcase “some of the year’s very best work by indigenous filmmakers”, presented by the Canada Media Fund, and programmed by Jess Murwin and Vincent Careau.

The programme is rounded off by 11 thematic strands, two sections dedicated to schools and teens, and four more focus competitions – 100% Regions, Short & Queer, Shoot No Matter What, and Americana.

The official competition jury will award the Grand Prize, the Canadian Grand Prize, the Jury Prize, the Prize for Best Animated Short and the Prize for Best Documentary Short. It is made up of actress Anne-Marie Cadieux, programmer, publicist and producer Kathleen McInnis, programmer and multidisciplinary artist Nishina Loft, and filmmakers Theodore Ushev and Pier-Philippe Chevigny.

Meanwhile, the FIPRESCI Award, bestowed upon the best Canadian short, will be handed out by Cineuropa’s own Davide Abbatescianni, who is serving as a juror alongside Uruguay’s Diego Faraone and Canada’s Rachel Ho.

Finally, the Quebec-based gathering will host the 20th edition of its short-film market, Canada’s largest of its kind. On this occasion, the event will include interviews, networking activities, round-tables and master classes for the 400 industry professionals in attendance.

You can discover the full line-up here.