Toronto Film Festival Winners
PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD
The People’s Choice Award is voted on by the film festivals audiences. This year’s award goes to David Cronenberg’s EASTERN PROMISES. Cronenberg reunites with his A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE leading man Viggo Mortensen for a new thriller. EASTERN PROMISES is a film which follows the mysterious and ruthless Nikolai (Mortensen), a Russian gangster tied to one of London’s most notorious organized crime families. His carefully maintained existence is shaken when he crosses paths with Anna (Naomi Watts), an innocent midwife who accidentally uncovers potential evidence against the family. First runner-up is Jason Reitman’s JUNO and the second runner up is Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro’s BODY OF WAR.
PRIZE OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRITICS (FIPRESCI PRIZE)
The Prize of the International Critics (FIPRESCI Prize) is awarded to Rodrigo Plá’s LA ZONA. This prize is annually bestowed upon a feature film directed by an emerging filmmaker, and making its world premiere at the Festival. The Festival welcomed an international FIPRESCI jury for the 16th consecutive year.
ARTISTIC INNOVATION AWARD
The Artistic Innovation Award honours the artistry, innovation and audacity of one of the Festival’s inventive Visions titles as selected by an international industry jury of major visual artists. This year’s award goes to Anahí Berneri’s ENCARNACIÓN, the second feature film by Anahí Berneri (A YEAR WITHOUT LOVE). The film is the story of aging B-list actress Erni Levier (Silvia Pérez) who decides to make the difficult trip back to her hometown and face her family who knew her as Encarnación – the girl who fled to the city to sell her body in salacious B-films. The jury notes that the film “stands out for its economy of vision. We attribute this to its superb direction and editing. We appreciate the director of the films ability to render the fetishized female body in a distilled and forceful examination of both the “movie star” and “movie industry” and their relationship to everyday life. ” The jury consists of Dutch multimedia artist Lonnie van Brummelen; Vancouverbased influential pioneering photoconceptual artist Ian Wallace and renowned curator Christopher Eamon.
DISCOVERY AWARD
The Discovery award goes to Israel Cárdenas and Laura Amelia Guzmán’s COCHOCHI. After returning home from elementary boarding school, two brothers Tony (Luis Antonio Lerma Torres) and Evaristo (Evaristo Lerma Torres) are sent to deliver a package to a far community in the Sierra Tarahumara, Mexico, by their grandfather. Without permission, the brothers take the family horse but lose the horse and one another after making a wrong turn. They each then embark on a separate adventure, leading them to discover a new world. The Festival press corps, which consists of 1000 international media, voted on the Discovery Award.
TORONTO-CITY AWARD FOR BEST CANADIAN FEATURE FILM
The Toronto-City Award for Best Canadian Feature Film goes to Guy Maddin’s MY WINNIPEG. Maddin’s very personal portrait of his hometown is a poetic meditation – a docu-fantasia – on Winnipeg’s history as well as his own childhood. The jury states “in a year when many masters of Canadian cinema have made new and exciting movies, one film stands above as a work of remarkable ingenuity, originality and that, within its specific, personal vision finds a universal appeal.”
CITYTV AWARD FOR BEST CANADIAN FIRST FEATURE FILM
The Citytv Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film goes to Stéphane Lafleur’s CONTINENTAL, UN FILM SANS FUSIL. The film follows four people whose lives unexpectedly intersect due to one man’s disappearance in the woods. The jury is pleased to present this award to “a film with singular vision, an economical and subtle beauty and a cinematic maturity that belies the director’s relative inexperience.”
AWARD FOR BEST CANADIAN SHORT FILM
The award for Best Canadian Short Film goes to Chris Chong Chan Fui’s POOL. The jury states, “in an unforgettable film about overcoming devastation, the main and title character is a water reservoir.” The award goes to POOL “for telling us this story with restraint, subtlety and compassion.”
