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TORONTO | MONTREAL – Writer-director Jamie M. Dagg has won the Academy’s Claude Jutra Award, sponsored by Telefilm Canada, for his feature film, River, it was announced today by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. It will be presented at the Canadian Screen Awards on March 13, 2016.

“Jamie M. Dagg’s command of the complex moral story and landscape in River surpasses what we normally see from debutant directors,” says Academy Chair Martin Katz. “He is well-deserving of the Claude Jutra Award.”

In River, Rossif Sutherland plays a volunteer doctor in Laos who becomes a fugitive after he intervenes in the sexual assault of a young woman. When the assailant’s body is pulled from the Mekong River, things quickly spiral out of control.

Rossif Sutherland received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for his lead performance in River with a gripping performance that carries the audience across Laos and into the chaos that shows how an attempt to do the right thing can destroy a man’s life.

River will be released in select theatres by Elevation Pictures on March 4.

Jamie M. Dagg’s first film, Waiting, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2005 and was selected for TIFF’s 2006 Short Film Showcase. His second short, Sunday, premiered at the festival in 2008. Both films went on to screen at festivals worldwide. Dagg has directed a number of music videos for artists such as Broken Social Scene, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Bedouin Soundclash. In 2010 Jamie was selected to participate in Talent Lab. He was also a recipient of TIFF’s Irving Avrich Fund in 2006 and 2007. Dagg’s first feature film, River, premiered TIFF in 2015. It won the Borsos Awards for Best Canadian Feature, Best Director and Best Screenplay at the Whistler Film Festival.

Please Visit Academy Website or Elevation Pictures For More Info On the Award Or Film.