Grolsch People's Choice Awards
Green Book
Winner: Peter Farrelly's Green Book
First runner-up: Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk
Second runner-up: Alfonso Cuarón’s ROMA
The award offers a $15,000 cash prize and custom award, sponsored by Grolsch.
The Festival presents free screenings of Green Book at TIFF Bell Lightbox tonight. Tickets are now on sale and are available online, by phone, and in person. These screenings are Rush eligible.
The Man Who Feels No Pain
Winner: Vasan Bala's The Man Who Feels No Pain (Mard Ko Dard Nahi Hota)
First runner-up: David Gordon Green’s Halloween
Second runner-up: Sam Levinson’s Assassination Nation
Free Solo
Winner: E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin's Free Solo
First runner-up: Tom Donahue’s This Changes Everything
Second runner-up: John Chester’s The Biggest Little Farm
International Jury Awards
Cities of Last Things
Winner: Wi Ding Ho’s Cities of Last Things
- Jury remarks: “This is a deeply moving drama from a director who shows great skill in his ability to weave together multiple genres with social and political critique, while telling a story that remains intimately human at its core. For us, this film has a spirit that always feels beautifully close to real life.”
Honourable Mention: Emir Baigazin’s The River
- Jury remarks: “We were completely absorbed by the singular world this film creates through precise and meticulous craft, breathtaking visuals, and a boldly patient yet engrossing observational style.”
The Toronto Platform Prize offers a custom award and a $25,000 cash prize, made possible by Air France.
The Festival welcomed an international jury comprised of award-winning filmmakers Mira Nair, Béla Tarr, and Lee Chang-dong.
TIFF presents a free screening of Toronto Platform Prize winner Cities of Last Things at TIFF Bell Lightbox, 9:15pm, on September 16. Tickets to this free screening are now on sale and are available online, by phone, and in person. This screening is Rush eligible.
Float Like a Butterfly
Winner – Discovery Programme: Carmel Winters’ Float Like a Butterfly
- Jury remarks: “Float Like a Butterfly is a pastoral and traditional bucolic film, capturing the familiar angst and anxiety a young adult woman undergoes in order to have her say in the scheme of things in a predominately male-driven patriarchal society. Through her spectacular and deft narrative, nuanced understanding of the dilemmas women face, and a pitch-perfect performance by Hazel Doupe, this film is a triumph of free spirit.”
Honourable Mention: Laura Luchetti’s Twin Flower
Skin
Winner – Special Presentations: Guy Nattiv’s Skin
- Jury remarks: “Skin is a gripping study of a group of extremists and the choices available to them. It's raw yet intelligently paced, with stunning performances, especially by a near-unrecognizable Vera Farmiga.”
Honourable Mention: Louis Garrel’s A Faithful Man
The jury was comprised of Jury President Lesley Chow (Australia), Andrés Nazarala (Chile), Astrid Jansen (Belgium), Pierre Pageau (Canada), James Slotek (Canada), and Viswanath Subrahmanyan (India).
The Third Wife
Winner: Ash Mayfair’s The Third Wife
- Jury remarks: “Ash Mayfair's debut feature The Third Wife signalled the emergence of a young female director-writer whose aesthetic sensibilities, cinematic language, and extraordinary ability to illuminate the past for contemporary audiences augur well for the future of Vietnamese and world cinema.”
Honourable Mention: Bai Xue’s The Crossing
- Jury remarks: “Bai Xue's storytelling in her debut film The Crossing shattered cinematic boundaries to create an original visual language that propelled her protagonist's emotional crossing into adulthood as she crossed the physical boundaries of Hong Kong into mainland China.”
The jury, selected from the Network for the Promotion of Asian Pacific Cinema, comprised of Vilsoni Hereniko (Fiji), Meng Xie (China), and Gülin Üstün (Turkey).
Fig Tree
Winner: Aäläm-Wärqe Davidian's Fig Tree
- Jury remarks: “Fig Tree is a stunning and illuminating debut. Based on her own experiences, Ethiopian-Israeli writer-director Aäläm-Wärqe Davidian takes us on an unsentimental journey and shows us the tragic effects of civil war on ordinary people. Confidently directed with grit and compassion, Fig Tree is a beautifully rendered, big-hearted story about a Jewish teenage girl’s attempt to save those she loves, but it’s also an intimate coming-of-age story of self-discovery and female empowerment.”
Honourable Mention: Camilla Strøm Henriksen’s Phoenix
- Jury remarks: “Phoenix is a courageous debut from Norwegian director Camilla Strøm Henriksen. A visually arresting and emotionally nuanced film, Phoenix focuses on a young teen who assumes an enormous burden of responsibility in the face of her mother’s mental illness and her father’s absence. With a seamless blend of stark realism and cinematic magic realism, Henriksen’s story subtly, yet powerfully, unfolds from the perspective of her mature young protagonist.”
The Audentia Award for Best Female Director, presented by The Festival and the Council of Europe’s Eurimages Fund, carries a €30,000 cash prize.
The jury was comprised of Anne Frank, Reinaldo Marcus Green, and Kerri Craddock.
Short Film Jury Awards
Brotherhood
IWC SHORT CUTS AWARD FOR BEST CANADIAN SHORT FILM
Winner: Meryam Joobeur’s Brotherhood
- Jury remarks: “The film was masterfully executed, layered with bold ideas, rich textures, and nuanced character observations played by an unforgettable cast. The film successfully explored complex personal and political themes with compassion for its characters. By employing the intimate prism of a Tunisian family, the film was evidently made with a sense of maturity that points to a bright future from Meryam Joobeur.”
The award offers a $10,000 cash prize, made possible by IWC Schaffhausen.
Honourable Mention: The jury awarded a special mention to Jérémy Comte’s Fauve for its confident visual storytelling and moving performances from the child actors.
The Field
Winner: Sandhya Suri’s The Field
- Jury remarks: “The film is striking for its aesthetic lyricism, tender performances, and powerful emotional impact. It's a unique and refreshing glimpse into female desire set in rural India that demonstrated a scope greater than its short format.”
The award offers a $10,000 cash prize, made possible by IWC Schaffhausen.
Honourable Mentions: Anette Sidor’s Fuck You, for its acutely observed study of teenage sexuality, and to Emma de Swaef and Marc James Roels’s This Magnificent Cake!, for the spectacular level of animation and the surreal humour it uses to explore its complex colonial subject matter.
The jury was comprised of Claire Diao, Molly McGlynn, and Michael Pearce.
Canadian Film Jury Awards
Roads in February (Les routes en février)
Winner: Katherine Jerkovic’s Roads in February (Les routes en février)
- Jury remarks: “For its warm portrayal of a young woman trying to reconnect with her distant heritage after her father’s untimely death, and for the way the film demonstrates how genuine human connections best develop between two individuals when they stand on common ground, the jury gives the City of Toronto Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film to Katherine Jerkovic’s Les routes en février (Roads in February).”
This award carries a cash prize of $15,000, made possible by the City of Toronto.
The Fireflies Are Gone (La disparition des lucioles)
Winner: Sébastien Pilote’s The Fireflies Are Gone (La disparition des lucioles)
- Jury remarks: “For its true-to-life depiction of a young woman’s quest to find meaning and hope in a world that has constantly disappointed her, the jury gives the Canada Goose® Award for Best Canadian Feature Film to Sébastien Pilote’s La disparition des lucioles (The Fireflies Are Gone).”
This award carries a cash prize of $30,000 and a custom award, sponsored by Canada Goose®.
The jury was comprised of Mathieu Denis, Ali Özgentürk, and Michelle Shephard.
