At the 45th Vancouver International Film Festival, audiences selected ‘I Play Rocky’ for the Galas & Special Presentations Audience Award, while ‘Ceremony’ won the Showcase category.
The Story
‘I Play Rocky,’ directed by Peter Farrelly, has won the Audience Award in the Galas & Special Presentations category at the 2026 Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF). The film follows the underdog story behind Sylvester Stallone’s journey to make and star in ‘Rocky.’
The Audience Award was among honours decided by audience selection, with 10 titles chosen as favourites across VIFF’s programming sections, including international cinema, emerging filmmakers and Canadian features.
Banchi Hanuse’s documentary ‘Ceremony’ won in the Showcase category. The film follows the disappearance of the ooligan, a culturally significant fish in Bella Coola, and the Nuxalk Nation’s efforts to understand its decline; the documentary had previously taken home the juried Tides Award.
Other VIFF category winners announced included ‘Iron Boy’ for the Panorama prize; Fernanda Salgado’s ‘Ana, En Passant’ for the Vanguard award; Cody Lightning’s ‘Smudge the Blades’ for the Northern Lights award; and ‘Prosecution’ for Focus on New German Cinema: Extreme Tension. The remaining category prizes went to ‘Concrete Land’ (Insights), ‘Daughters of the Forest’ (Spectrum), ‘Tenor: My Name Is Parti’ (Portraits), and ‘Jim Queen’ (Altered States).
Now in its 45th year, VIFF ran from Oct. 1 to Oct. 11, 2026, featuring 162 features and 91 short films representing 76 countries.
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