Ilan Sargosti's Exiles In Lotus Land won the $8,600 (C$10,000)Borsos Award for Best New Canadian Feature as the 5thannual Whistler Film Festival wrapped on Sunday. The National Film Board ofCanada-financed film, which follows Quebecois street youth who have gravitatedto Canada's West Coast, was the lone documentary in the competition of six newfeatures. The dramatic features were Anita Doron's The End Of Silence,David Ray's Fetching Cody, Johnny Kalangis's Love IsWork, David Christensen's Six Figures,and Raphael Assaf's The Zero Sum.

In a statement, the Borsosjury - Canadian producer Robert Lantos, actor-writer-director Don McKellar and actress Molly Parker - wrote, "We foundseveral films of merit in the competition which showcasesome very promising new Canadian talent. The decision to give the award to Exiles In LotusLand was based on the film's compassion, human insight and fundamentalintelligence." Lantos was also the subject of the festival's tribute.

As for the documentary competition proper,the $4,300 ($5,000) CBC Newsworld Award went to Joel Secter's The Best Of Secter & The Rest Of Secter, a film about Secter'suncle, Canadian independent filmmaker David Secter.The elder Secter's debut, Winter Kept Us Warm, was selected for Cannes in 1965 but commercialsuccess eluded him. Andrew Johnson, a Newsworldcommissioning editor, accepted the prize on behalf of Secterand gamely admitted denying the project funding; however, he mitigated hiserror by acquiring the film for broadcast.

The documentary jury commented "The film isa fascinating documentary about a little-known chapter in Canadian filmhistory: An intimate portrait of an artist, and a moving image of therelationship between a nephew and his uncle, the art and the times, and thetransformative power of the independent film vision."

The newly-introduced Best Mountain CultureFilm prize went to Jason Berry's Off RoadTo Athens. The festival's audience prize will be announced on December 6.