Regard (film festival)

Regard – Saguenay International Short Film Festival (Festival Regard or Festival international du court métrage au Saguenay), also known as the Saguenay International Short Film Festival, or simply Regard (stylized as REGARD; lit. "Look"), is a short film festival taking place annually in the city of Saguenay, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1996, it is one of the main film festivals dedicated to shorts in North America.

Since 2022, Justine Valtier is the festival's general and artistic director.

History
Regard was founded in 1996 by Éric Bachand, then a recently graduated art student from the University of Quebec in Chicoutimi. Bachand had the idea for the festival while volunteering for the Festival du nouveau cinéma in Montreal. Regard was initially called "Regard sur la relève du cinéma québécois" (lit. "Look on the next generation of Quebec cinema"), and it was later renamed "Regard sur le court métrage au Saguenay" (lit.  "Look on the short film in Saguenay") before adopting its current name. The first edition took place in the Le Ménestrel room of the Cégep de Chicoutimi; it screened both feature-length and short films and received an audience of about 30 people per projection.



In Regard's second year, filmmaker Sébastien Pilote joined Bachand in developing the festival. Bachand and Pilote conceived of the festival as a cultural bridge between the cities of Jonquière and Chicoutimi, which were subsequently merged into the city of Saguenay in 2002. They were inspired by the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, in France, as well as the Abitibi-Témiscamingue International Film Festival, in Quebec.

The 6th edition of Regard was the first one to be solely focused on short films. Initial editions of the festival also differed from the current ones in that they were non-competitive.

The 10th edition of Regard, in 2006, received 10,000 audience members. By 2015, according to its then general director Ian Gailer, the festival was growing by about 4-5% each year. In 2017, two awards given out by the festival were made Academy-Award-qualifying by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. That same year, Regard became the third North American festival (after the international film festivals of Palm Springs and Toronto) to host a jury from the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI).

The 2020 edition of the festival was cancelled on its second day due to the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. The 2021 edition, which was restricted for the same reason, made use of drive-in theaters. In 2023, the 27th edition of Regard was its most attended yet, receiving 30,000 audience members.

Awards
15 awards were handed out at the 2024 edition of Regard:
 * Grand Prize
 * Canadian Grand Prize
 * Jury Prize
 * Best Animation Short Film Award
 * Best Documentary Short Film Award
 * International FIPRESCI Critic's Award
 * Quebec Critic Award AQCC
 * Public Award – Parallel Competition
 * Public Award – Official Competition
 * Americana Award
 * Shoot No Matter What (Tourner à tout prix) Award
 * Philippe Belley Award
 * Short and Queer Award
 * Best Youth Short Film
 * Indigenous Perspectives Award

Both the Grand Prize and the Canadian Grand Prize have been Academy-Award-qualifying since 2017, meaning that the films that win them are automatically eligible to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film, for Best Documentary Short Film or for Best Animated Short Film.