Festival Archive
The Ottawa Canadian Film Festival is an evolution of the Treepot Film Festival, independent filmmaker Jith Paul’s series of public screenings that showcased over 150 Canadian independent films at movie theatres, universities, colleges, and parks in downtown Ottawa between 2011 and 2014. Although successful and popular with local audiences, Paul decided it was time to take the Treepot screenings to the next level. He wanted to further promote independent filmmakers and their work to larger and broader audiences, in a more formalized, sustainable structure. The result is the Ottawa Canadian Film Festival, founded in 2015, with its first annual screenings in 2017. Since then the festival has presented Canadian films of various genres and durations from filmmakers across the country at both in-person and online screenings.
The next annual screenings, OCan24, will take place on November 7-9, 2024 at the Bytowne Cinema in Ottawa.
2023
Festival screenings for OCan23 took place on November 2-4, 2023 at the Bytowne Cinema in Ottawa. The festival programme consisted of 18 films — 1 feature-length film and 17 short films.
The short film Life After... by director Stephanie Lalonde from Ottawa, Ontario was awarded Audience Favourite.
2022
Festival screenings for OCan22 took place on November 3-5, 2022 at the Bytowne Cinema in Ottawa. The festival programme consisted of 12 films — 2 feature-length films and 10 short films.
The feature-length film Tehranto by director Faran Moradi from Toronto, Ontario was awarded Audience Favourite
2021
Our 2021 Annual Festival, OCan21, was streamed online from November 12 to 21, out of an abundance of caution due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The film festival programme consisted of 14 films —7 feature-length and 7 short films.
The feature-length film Blue Hour by director Jesse Pickett from Red Deer, Alberta was awarded Audience Favourite.
2020
Our 2020 Annual Festival, OCanFilmFest2020, was streamed online due to the COVID-19 pandemic and out of an abundance of caution. The film festival programme consisted of 18 films—3 feature-length and 15 short films—presented over three weekends in November.
The short experimental film and also, for youth by director Eamon Hillis from Harrowsmith, Ontario was awarded Audience Favourite.
2019
Our 2019 Annual Festival took place on November 1 and 2 at the Arts Court Theatre in Ottawa. The film festival programme consisted of 14 films—3 feature-length and 11 short films.
The short film The Still Life of Annika Myers by director Matthew Blecha from Victoria, BC was awarded Audience Favourite.
2018
Our 2018 Annual Festival took place on November 3 at the Arts Court Theatre in Ottawa. The film festival programme consisted of 13 films—2 feature-length and 11 short films.
2017
Our inaugural annual festival took place on June 3, 2017 at La Nouvelle Scène in downtown Ottawa. The film festival programme consisted of 10 films—4 feature-length and 6 short films.
2011-2014
Treepot Film Festival - The Ottawa Canadian Film Festival is an evolution of the Treepot Film Festival, independent filmmaker Jith Paul’s series of public screenings that showcased over 150 Canadian independent films at movie theatres, universities, colleges, and parks in downtown Ottawa between 2011 and 2014.
Ongoing Events and Initiatives
OCan Presents - Curated by the board, OCan Presents is a series of in-person screenings featuring locally-produced short films, feature-length films, and episodic series content.- OCan Spotlight- OCan Spotlight is a series of feature-length and short films previously featured at the festival, now available on YouTube, Vimeo or popular streaming platforms like CBC Gem, and Tubi.
- OCan Shorts at Home - 'Shorts at Home' is a series of Canadian short films curated by OCanFilmFest's Board of Directors. The selections are non-competitive and are scheduled to run between annual festival screenings. The series was initiated in 2020, during lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as a means to further our mission to celebrate Canadian films.
All OCan Films
OCan Film Archive - all fims featured at the festival
