Inaugurated by the Calgary International Film Festival in 2005 as a lasting Centennial legacy honouring emerging Alberta filmmakers, the Alberta Centennial Award (ACA) is presented each year to the director of the Best New Alberta Short Film.

For the 2007 Festival, ACA entries must have been produced since January 2006, have a running time of twenty minutes or less, and feature an Albertan filmmaker, landscape or story. ACA entries will also be considered for selection in other CIFF program categories.

This year’s ACA will be curated by Calgary film critic Louis B. Hobson, who will serve as the Jury President. Hobson’s official ACA selections will be presented at a special screening during the 2007 CIFF where the winner of the 2007 Alberta Centennial Award will also be announced.

For Calgary-based brother and sister filmmaking team Devon and Kirsten Bolton, winning the 2006 ACA for Shipwrecked was just the beginning. To date, the film has won numerous awards (including ‘Best Short’ at numerous Festivals), mentions and nominations on the International Festival circuit. Shipwrecked has been traveling as far away as New York, Chicago, Australia and New Zealand, is to be screened at the Museum of Modern Art in New York this September and has become part of the permanent collection at the National Archives of Canada. “With the additional awards and nominations the film has received, we're very pleased to now be referred to as the most internationally successful Alberta short film ever, and it all started with the recognition we received at the Calgary International Film Festival,” explained Kirsten Bolton. Now working on their next project, Bolton says that she and her brother are happy to stay in Alberta. “We believe this province can cultivate a new wave of restless, ambitious, imaginative filmmakers with distinct worldviews and something to say with international relevance and the ACA program at [CIFF] is a really important stakeholder in inspiring, encouraging, and providing a platform of exposure for the next generation of Alberta talent.”

The 8th Annual Calgary International Film Festival, the fourth largest Film Festival in Canada, will be held September 21 to 30, 2007, in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Films completed after January 2006 are now being accepted. Early-bird registration ended on June 15, 2007, and the final submission deadline is July 6, 2007. For submission information, see the CIFF 2007 Submissions Regulations and Guidelines page at www.calgaryfilm.com/filmsub.php or contact CIFF Programming at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .