Toronto International Film Festival Best Canadian Discovery Award

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]

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] With the award's opening to second films, Matthew Rankin became the first, and so far only, director ever to win the award twice.

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)

Year	Film	Director	Reference
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)

Year	Film	Director	Reference
2024	Universal Language (Une langue universelle)	Matthew Rankin	[27]
	You Are Not Alone (Vous n'êtes pas seuls)	Marie-Hélène Viens, Philippe Lupien	[27]
2025	Blue Heron	Sophy Romvari	[28]
	100 Sunset	Kunsang Kyirong	[28]

See also

• John Dunning Best First Feature Award
• Prix Iris for Best First Film

References

1. 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. "Hollywood and Toronto big festival winners". Nanaimo Daily News , September 20, 1999.
6. "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. "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. Steve Pond, "‘The Life of Chuck’ Wins Toronto Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award". TheWrap , September 15, 2024.
28. Pete Hammond, "‘Hamnet’ Wins Oscar-Predictive Toronto Film Festival People’s Choice Award". Deadline Hollywood , September 14, 2025.