After 11 days and over 200 films, Toronto International Film Festival finally came to a close on Sunday. On the ground, much of the buzz seemed geared towards upcoming fall releases, like “Glass Onion: Knives Out”, “The Fabelmans”, “The Woman King”, and “Pearl.” TIFF juries seemed to think otherwise, however. Independent productions have taken home most of the awards, with a good half of them being Asian identifying filmmakers took home near half of the awards. Of these, at least 25 percent identify as Asian Canadian, and at least three do not identify as cisgender male. The range has also been notable. With productions ranging from Mongolia (“Snow in September”) to Palestine (“A Gaza Weekend”), from sleepy towns in Canada (“Riceboy Sleeps”) to film sets in the Philippines (“Leonor Will Never Die”), the list of movies reveals the sheer diversity in the continent of Asia – and all the diasporas accompanying it.
But without further ado, here are the results:
IMDbPro SHORT CUTS AWARDS
The 2022 IMDbPro Short Cuts Awards are for Best Film, Best Canadian Film, and the Share Her Journey Award for best film by a woman. Each winning film will receive a bursary of $10,000 CAD and a one-year membership to IMDbPro, the essential resource for entertainment industry professionals, to help them continue achieving success in their careers.
IMDbPro Short Cuts Award for Best Film: Snow in September, dir. Lkhagvadulam (Dulmaa) Purev-Ochir (Mongolia).
Honourable Mention: Airhostess-737 (Thanasis Neofotistos, Greece)
IMDbPro Short Cuts Award for Best Canadian Film: Simo, dir. Aziz Zoromba (Canada, Egypt)
Honourable Mention: Same Old (Lloyd Lee Choi, Canada, S. Korea)
IMDbPro Short Cuts Share Her Journey Award: Nanitic, dir. Carol Nguyen (2022 TIFF Filmmaker Lab; Canada, Vietnam)
NETPAC AWARD: Sweet As, dir. Jub Clerc (Australia)
The 2022 NETPAC jury released the following statement: “A model road film in all aspects with great locations and a strong cast, Jub Clerc's Sweet As convincingly tells the story of an Indigenous girl on a youth-therapy bus tour — dealing with family, friendship, inspiration and self-identity.”
FIPRESCI PRIZE: A Gaza Weekend, dir. Basil Khalil (UK, Palestine)
The 2022 FIPRESCI jury released the following statement: “For its empathy and intelligence in capturing the zeitgeist, and with its daring approach to contemporary satire and world cinema, we award Basil Khalil's A Gaza Weekend the 2022 FIPRESCI Prize. Basil Khalil's direction finds space for the more sorrowful, more tender moments of interpersonal crises even as he deftly escalates the bawdy humour on display, capturing the nature of survival as very serious and very funny business for these characters.”
AMPLIFY VOICES AWARDS PRESENTED BY CANADA GOOSE
This year, Canada Goose presents the Amplify Voices Awards to the three best feature films by under-represented filmmakers. All feature films in Official Selection by emerging filmmakers who are Black or Indigenous or persons of colour and Canadian, were eligible for these awards, and the three winners will receive a cash prize of $10,000 each, made possible by Canada Goose.
Amplify Voices Award for Best Canadian Feature Film: To Kill A Tiger, dir. Nisha Pahuja (Canada)
Special Mention for Best Canadian Feature Film: Viking, dir. Stéphane Lafleur (Canada)
Amplify Voices Award: Leonor Will Never Die, dir. Martika Ramirez Escobar (Philippines)
Amplify Voices Award: While We Watched, dir. Vinay Shukla (UK)
Special Mention for Best Feature from an Emerging BIPOC Filmmaker: Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On, dir. Madison Thomas (Canada)
SHAWN MENDES FOUNDATION CHANGEMAKER AWARD: Something You Said Last Night, dir. Luis De Filippis (Canada, Switzerland)
Presented by the Shawn Mendes Foundation, the 2022 Changemaker Award is awarded to a Festival film that tackles issues of social change, and comes with a $10,000 cash prize.
PLATFORM PRIZE: Riceboy Sleeps, dir. Anthony Shim (Canada)
Named after Jia Zhang-ke's trailblazing second feature, Platform is the Toronto International Film Festival's competitive programme championing bold directorial visions. The Platform jury provided this statement: “The 2022 TIFF Platform Jury announces the unanimous choice for the Platform Prize — Riceboy Sleeps, written and directed by Anthony Shim for its deeply moving story and precisely-observed characters as they navigate racism, dislocation, family, and love. It balances social realism with pure poetry. Plus, it's very funny. The leads Choi Seung-yoon (2022 TIFF Rising Stars), Ethan Hwang, and Dohyun Noel Hwang deserve top honours. Riceboy Sleeps touches on, in a most accessible way, some of humanity's biggest challenges — how to merge cultures without erasing individuals, how to grow up whole in fragmented families, and how to defend ourselves from internalizing the subtle and not so subtle discriminations of the privileged.”
PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS
For the 45th year, the People's Choice Awards distinguish the audience's top title at the Festival as voted by the viewing public. All films in TIFF's Official Selection were eligible.
The TIFF 2022 People's Choice Midnight Madness Award: Weird: The Al Yankovic Story dir. Eric Appel
The first runner-up is Pearl dir. Ti West.
The second runner-up is The Blackening dir. Tim Story
The TIFF 2022 People's Choice Documentary Award: Black Ice dir. Hubert Davis
The second runner-up is Maya and the Wave dir. Stephanie Johnes
The second runner-up is 752 is not a Number dir. Babak Payami.
The TIFF 2022 People's Choice Award winner: The Fabelmans dir. Steven Spielberg
The first runner-up is Women Talking dir. Sarah Polley
The second runner-up is Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery dir. Rian Johnson
