Former Screen International contributing editor and Canadian correspondent Denis Seguin has won first prize in the Canadian Film Centre’s (CFC) The REEL Challenge.

More than 100 film-makers submitted entries to the competition and were asked to make a short film about copyright and creators’ rights from the creator’s point of view.

Seguin’s It’s My Right earned CDN$10,000 and features Canadian artists and film-makers discussing their rights.

“I’m delighted to have had my film recognised by the Reel Challenge jury,” Toronto-based Seguin said. “Copyright is not an abstract notion but a matter of survival for an artist. This is the message I wanted to convey through the faces and voices of the creators who appear in the film.”

Second and third prizes for CDN$2,500 each were awarded to Nick Kalish of Vancouver for RespectThe C and Spencer Maybee of Toronto for Respect The Original.

“We are thrilled to have had such an overwhelming response to The REEL Challenge contest,” CFC executive director Slawko Klymkiw said. “It is a testament to the strong support in the creative communities for protecting content and creators’ rights.”

The jury included Splcie director Vincenzo Natali, Epitome Pictures president Stephen Stohn, CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival director Eileen Arandiga, Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association executive director Wendy Noss, and interim MPAA CEO Bob Pisano.

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