Toronto International Film Festival Best Canadian Discovery Award

Last updated

The Toronto International Film Festival Best Canadian Discovery Award is an annual film award, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival to a film judged to be the best Canadian first or second feature film by an emerging Canadian director. [1]

Contents

The award was previously presented from 1997 to 2019 as Best Canadian First Feature, and was discontinued after the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. It was revived in 2024 under its current name. [1] Concurrently with the award's reintroduction, TIFF announced that the Best Canadian Film will now be restricted to filmmakers who are releasing their third or later films, with first and second films eligible for the Discovery award. [2]

As with all of TIFF's juried awards, the jury has the discretion to grant one or more honorable mentions in addition to the main award winner.

Winners

† denotes a film which also won the Best First Feature award at the Genie Awards or the Canadian Screen Awards.

Best Canadian First Feature (1997-2019)

YearFilmDirectorReference
1997
Cube Vincenzo Natali [3]
1998
Last Night Don McKellar [4]
1999
Just Watch Me: Trudeau and the '70s Generation Catherine Annau [5]
Full Blast Rodrigue Jean [5]
2000
The Left-Hand Side of the Fridge (La Moitié gauche du frigo) Philippe Falardeau [6]
Red Deer Anthony Couture [6]
2001
Inertia Sean Garrity [7]
2002
Marion Bridge Wiebke von Carolsfeld [8]
2003
Love, Sex and Eating the Bones Sudz Sutherland [9]
2004
White Skin (La Peau blanche) Daniel Roby [10]
2005
The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico Michael Mabbott [11]
2006
On the Trail of Igor Rizzi (Sur la trace d'Igor Rizzi) Noël Mitrani [12]
2007
Continental, a Film Without Guns (Continental, un film sans fusil) Stéphane Lafleur [13]
2008
Before Tomorrow (Le Jour avant le lendemain) Marie-Hélène Cousineau, Madeline Ivalu [14]
Borderline Lyne Charlebois [14]
2009
The Wild Hunt Alexandre Franchi [15]
2010
The High Cost of Living Deborah Chow [16]
2011
Citizen Gangster Nathan Morlando [17]
Nuit #1 Anne Émond [18]
2012
Antiviral Brandon Cronenberg [19]
Blackbird Jason Buxton
2013
Asphalt Watches Shayne Ehman, Seth Scriver [20]
2014
Bang Bang Baby Jeffrey St. Jules [21]
2015
Sleeping Giant Andrew Cividino [22]
2016
Old Stone Johnny Ma [23]
2017
Luk'Luk'I Wayne Wapeemukwa [24]
2018
Roads in February (Les routes en février) Katherine Jerkovic [25]
2019
The Twentieth Century Matthew Rankin [26]

Best Canadian Discovery (2024-present)

YearFilmDirectorReference
2024 Universal Language (Une langue universelle) Matthew Rankin [27]
You Are Not Alone (Vous n'êtes pas seuls)Marie-Hélène Viens, Philippe Lupien [27]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toronto International Film Festival</span> Annual film festival held in Toronto, Canada

The Toronto International Film Festival is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, founded in 1976 and taking place each September. It is also a permanent destination for film culture operating out of the TIFF Lightbox cultural centre, located in Downtown Toronto.

The Toronto International Film Festival Award for Best Canadian Film is an annual juried film award, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival to a film judged to be the best Canadian feature film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kazik Radwanski</span> Canadian filmmaker (born 1985)

Kazik Radwanski is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. His early short films have been cited as part of the New Canadian Cinema movement. He made his feature film directorial debut in 2012 with Tower. His second feature film, How Heavy This Hammer (2015), screened at film festivals around the world and received critical acclaim.

The Toronto International Film Festival Award for Best Canadian Short Film, formerly also known as the NFB John Spotton Award, is an annual film award, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival to a film judged to be the best Canadian short film of the festival. As of 2017, the award is sponsored by International Watch Company and known as the "IWC Short Cuts Award for Best Canadian Short Film".

The Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award is an annual film award, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival to the movie rated as the year's best film according to TIFF audience. Past sponsors of the award have included Cadillac and Grolsch.

<i>Ava</i> (2017 Iranian film) 2017 film

Ava is a 2017 internationally co-produced drama film directed and written by Sadaf Foroughi. The Persian-language film screened for the first time in the Discovery section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the FIPRESCI Discovery Prize and received an Honourable Mention for Best Canadian First Feature Film.

The Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award for Documentaries is an annual film award, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival to the film rated as the year's most popular documentary film with festival audiences. The award was first introduced in 2009; prior to its introduction, documentary films were eligible for the Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award.

The Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award for Midnight Madness is an annual film award, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival to the film rated as the year's most popular film in the festival's "Midnight Madness" stream of underground and cult films. The award was first introduced in 2009.

The Platform Prize is an annual film award, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival to films of "high artistic merit that also demonstrate a strong directorial vision." Introduced in 2015, the award is presented to a film, selected by an international jury of three prominent filmmakers or actors, from among the films screened in the Platform program. The program normally screens between eight and twelve films; only one winner is selected each year, although as with TIFF's other juried awards the jurors have the discretion to give honorable mentions to other films besides the overall winner.

Jasmin Mozaffari is a Canadian film director and screenwriter. She won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Director at the 7th Canadian Screen Awards in 2019 for her debut feature film Firecrackers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020 Toronto International Film Festival</span> 45th edition of the festival

The 2020 Toronto International Film Festival, the 45th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held from September 10 to 21, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto, the festival took place primarily on an online streaming platform, although limited in-person screenings still took place within the constraints of social distancing restrictions.

The Toronto International Film Festival International Critics' Prizes, currently known as the FIPRESCI Prizes, are film awards presented by the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) to films screening at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The Toronto International Film Festival NETPAC Prize is an annual film award, presented by the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema to honour the best film from the Asia-Pacific region screened at the Toronto International Film Festival. The award was presented for the first time in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2021 Toronto International Film Festival</span> 46th edition of the festival

The 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, the 46th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held from September 9 to 18, 2021. Due to the continued COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto, the festival was staged as a "hybrid" of in-person and digital screenings. Most films were screened both in-person and on the digital platform, although a few titles were withheld by their distributors from the digital platform and instead were screened exclusively in-person.

The Hot Docs Audience Awards are annual film awards, presented by the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival to the most popular films as voted by festival audiences. There are currently two awards presented: the Hot Docs Audience Award, presented since 2001 to the most popular film overall regardless of nationality, and the Rogers Audience Award, presented since 2017 to the most popular Canadian film.

Share Her Journey is a Canadian film program, created by the Toronto International Film Festival to foster the career development and advancement of women in the film industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2022 Toronto International Film Festival</span> 47th edition of the festival

The 47th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 8 to 18, 2022.

Antoine Bourges is a French-Canadian filmmaker and screenwriter. He is most noted for his 2012 mid-length docudrama film East Hastings Pharmacy, which was the winner of the Colin Low Award at the 2013 DOXA Documentary Film Festival, and his 2017 narrative feature film Fail to Appear, which was a Vancouver Film Critics Circle nominee for Best Canadian Film at the Vancouver Film Critics Circle Awards 2017.

The Vancouver International Film Festival Award for Best Canadian Film is an annual award, presented by the Vancouver International Film Festival to honour the film selected by a jury as the best Canadian film screened at VIFF that year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2024 Toronto International Film Festival</span> 49th edition of the festival

The 49th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 5–15, 2024.

References

  1. 1 2 Jeremy Kay, "TIFF brings back renamed Best Canadian Discovery Award". Screen Daily , August 22, 2024.
  2. Pat Mullen, "TIFF Previews Upcoming Market at Pre-Festival Event". Point of View , August 22, 2024.
  3. "Hanging Garden wins two awards". The Globe and Mail , September 15, 1997.
  4. "Last Night, No, take top prizes at fest". Hamilton Spectator , September 21, 1998.
  5. 1 2 "Hollywood and Toronto big festival winners". Nanaimo Daily News , September 20, 1999.
  6. 1 2 "Toronto International Film Festival: Ang Lee, Burns win top prizes". The Globe and Mail , September 18, 2000.
  7. "Romance, myth and Winnipeg take top honours". The Globe and Mail , September 17, 2001.
  8. "Cronenberg's Spider big winner at film fest". Sudbury Star , September 16, 2002.
  9. "Canadian movies shine at film fest gala". Sherbrooke Record , September 16, 2003.
  10. "Hotel Rwanda wins top festival prize". The Globe and Mail , September 20, 2004.
  11. "Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico takes mocking look at country troubadour". Canadian Press, November 7, 2005.
  12. "Winners a list of surprises". The Globe and Mail , September 18, 2006.
  13. "Toronto film fest's people's choice award stays home". Vancouver Sun , September 17, 2007.
  14. 1 2 "Slumdog takes the people's prize; LeBron James documentary tapped as runner-up". Toronto Star , September 14, 2008.
  15. "It's a wrap for TIFF; Film 'Precious' nabs audience prize at festival, stoking Oscar predictions". Telegraph-Journal , September 21, 2009.
  16. "King's Speech persuades TIFF audience". The Globe and Mail , September 20, 2010.
  17. "The people choose a surprise: Small Lebanese film triumphs over rivals with higher profiles". Toronto Star , September 19, 2011.
  18. Chris Knight, "Lebanese film wins TIFF's top prize; Starbuck is People's Choice runner-up". National Post , September 19, 2011.
  19. "Chester filmmaker wins TIFF award for Blackbird". The Chronicle Herald , September 17, 2012.
  20. "TIFF 2013: 12 Years a Slave wins film fest’s top prize". Toronto Star , 15 September 2013.
  21. "‘The Imitation Game’ Wins Toronto Audience Award". The Wrap , September 14, 2014.
  22. "‘Room’ Wins Toronto Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award". Variety , September 20, 2015.
  23. "TIFF People's Choice Award cements La La Land's place in Oscar race". Entertainment Weekly , September 18, 2016.
  24. "Toronto: 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' Captures Audience Award". The Hollywood Reporter , September 17, 2017.
  25. "'Green Book' boosts awards season prospects with TIFF audience award win". Screen Daily , September 16, 2018.
  26. Etan Vlessing, "Toronto: Taika Waititi's 'Jojo Rabbit' Wins Audience Award". The Hollywood Reporter , September 15, 2019.
  27. 1 2 Steve Pond, "‘The Life of Chuck’ Wins Toronto Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award". TheWrap , September 15, 2024.