#TIFF 2017 Winners

There were 339 films at the 42nd annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) held from September 7-17, 2017.

2017 TIFF Winners

Grolsch People's Choice Awards

THE GROLSCH PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD:
WINNER — MARTIN MCDONAGH'S THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI

First runner-up: Craig Gillespie’s I, Tonya
Second runner-up: Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name

THE GROLSCH PEOPLE’S CHOICE MIDNIGHT MADNESS AWARD:
Winner: Joseph Kahn’s Bodied
First runner-up: James Franco’s The Disaster Artist.
Second runner-up: Craig Zahler’s Brawl in Cell Block 99

THE GROLSCH PEOPLE’S CHOICE DOCUMENTARY AWARD:
Winner: Agnès Varda and JR’s Faces Places
First runner-up: Long Time Running by Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas De Pencier
Second runner-up: Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!

International Jury Awards

TORONTO PLATFORM PRIZE PRESENTED BY AIR FRANCE

Winner: Warwick Thornton’s Sweet Country

JURY: Chen Kaige, Malgorzata Szumowska, and Wim Wenders.
Jury remarks: “This is a spiritual epic taking place in 1929 in Australia’s Northern Territory. It is a great saga of human fate, and its themes of race and struggle for survival are handled in such a simple, rich, unpretentious and touching way, that it became for us a deeply emotional metaphor for our common fight for dignity.”
Speaking about their deliberations, the Jury statement added: “We saw twelve films from all over the world that took us into very different universes of the soul and to extremely different places on our planet. We were thankful to be able to see these films and we very much appreciated that actually exactly half of them were made by women. TIFF is leading the way, we feel. As we only had one award to give, we had to be quite radical. We also limited ourselves to only one special mention, even if other films might have imposed themselves for best acting, writing or directing.”

Platform Prize, Honourable Mention
Clio Barnard’s Dark River.
The Jury said: “This film deeply rooted in the Yorkshire countryside convinced us, as its characters and actors, its photography, its story and its sense of place were all so utterly believable and controlled, that we were totally taken by it.”

THE PRIZES OF THE INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF FILM CRITICS (FIPRESCI PRIZES)
Winner - Discovery: Sadaf Foroughi’s Ava
Winner - Special Presentations: Manuel Martín Cuenca’s The Motive (El Autor)

International FIPRESCI jury composed of Jury President, Jonathan Rosenbaum (USA), Robert Daudelin (Canada), Martin Horyna (Czech Republic), Ivonete Pinto (Brazil), Marietta Steinhart (Austria), and Jim Slotek (Canada).

NETPAC AWARD
Winner: Huang Hsin-Yao’s The Great Buddha+
Jury remarks: “The NETPAC Jury awards The Great Buddha+ for depicting the interface between the haves and have-nots, with black humour and style, innovating with noir in representing the social reality of Taiwan today.”

Jury members include jury chairperson Rashmi Doraiswamy (India), Jian Hao (China), and Savine Wong (Canada).

Short Film Jury Awards
The Burden (Min Börda)

IWC SHORT CUTS AWARD FOR BEST CANADIAN SHORT FILM
Winner: Marc-Antoine Lemire’s Pre-Drink
Jury remarks: “A monumental yet intimate portrayal of a woman in transition.“

IWC SHORT CUTS AWARD FOR BEST SHORT FILM
Winner: Niki Lindroth von Bahr’s The Burden (Min Börda)
Jury remarks: “Whimsical but tragic, imaginative and just plain weird, this is exactly what one can expect from a Scandinavian musical with fish in bath robes singing out their existentialist crisis. This is a film that stands out in this program and any film program it will ever be part of.”
Honourable mentions to Matthew Rankin’s The Tesla World Light (Tesla: Lumière Mondiale) and Qiu Yang’s Xiao Cheng Er Yue (A Gentle Night).

Canadian Film Jury Awards
Best Canadian First Feature Film
Luk' Luk'l by Wayne Wapeemukwa.

The Canadian awards below were selected by a jury comprised of Mark Adams, Min Sook Lee, and Ella Cooper.

CITY OF TORONTO AWARD FOR BEST CANADIAN FIRST FEATURE FILM
Winner: Wayne Wapeemukwa’s Luk' Luk'l
Jury remarks: “The award goes to a striking debut film that disrupts borders - of form and content and suggests new cinematic territories. This beautifully realized film offers a unique Canadian perspective, made with real compassion, insight and remarkable characters from Vancouver’s East Side.”
Honourable mention to Sadaf Foroughi’s Ava.

CANADA GOOSE AWARD FOR BEST CANADIAN FEATURE FILM
Winner: Robin Aubert’s Les Affamés.
Jury remarks: “A hybrid art-house film that proved to be something of a revelation. Wonderfully scripted and perfectly cast, this film managed the rare feat of featuring genuinely interesting and well-rounded characters; surprising dramatic and comedic moments with well thought-out multi-generational female roles (who were totally badass) while also dealing with poignant and contemporary issues, set against a striking rural backdrop and hundreds of ‘ravenous’ zombies.”
Honourable mention to Simon Lavoie’s The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches (La petite fille qui aimait trop les allumettes).