Festival Archive
Ottawa Canadian Film Festival
The Ottawa Canadian Film Festival grew out of the Treepot Film Festival, independent filmmaker Jith Paul’s series of public screenings that showcased more than 150 Canadian independent films at movie theatres, universities, colleges, and outdoor venues in downtown Ottawa between 2011 and 2014. Although the Treepot screenings were successful and well-received, Jith felt it was time to take the initiative further. He envisioned a more formal, sustainable structure that could amplify independent filmmakers and bring their work to broader audiences.
That vision became the Ottawa Canadian Film Festival (OCan), founded in 2015 by Jith Paul, Ed Kucerak, and Blair Campbell, with the festival’s first annual screenings held in 2017. Since then, OCan has presented Canadian films of all genres and lengths from filmmakers across the country, offering both in-person and online screenings to reach audiences nationwide.
Each year, the festival audience select one film as the audience favourite and the jury awards the Jury Prize to one film in recognition of excellence in filmmaking.
2025
Festival screenings for OCan25 took place on November 6-8, 2025 at the Bytowne Cinema in Ottawa. The festival programme consisted of 17 films — 1 feature-length film and 16 short films.
Charles Burroughs’ film This Isn’t How I Pictured It was awarded the Jury Prize, and Fitch Jean’s film It Comes in Waves was voted Audience Favourite.
2024
Festival screenings for OCan24 took place on November 7-9, 2024 at the Bytowne Cinema in Ottawa. The festival programme consisted of 16 films — 2 feature-length films and 14 short films.
Minerva Navasca’s film Desync was awarded the Jury Prize and David Rendall’s film Triage was voted Audience Favourite.
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 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.
2015-2017
We partnered with other festivals and community organizations and experimented with providing unique independent film experiences prior to launching our first series of annual screenings in 2017.
One World Film Festival, Ottawa National Gallery
Ottawa Champions, Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton Baseball Park
Ottawa Indie Fest: The Bytowne Museum Screenings Bytowne Museum
Ottawa Champions 2, Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton Baseball Park
Ottawa Champions 3, Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton Baseball Park
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