Ten days and 352 films, this year's 31st Toronto International Film Festival came to a close this past weekend with a highly-anticipated Awards Reception at the Hilton Hotel Toronto. Four out of the seven winners this year are first time feature filmmakers showcasing the freshest voices in international cinema. Covering topics including family, desperation, spirituality, politics, and globalization, the international landscape of the Festival is highlighted through the winners this year.
First this year came the inaugural Swarovski Cultural Innovation Award honouring 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 Vzer Kiziltan's "Takva - A Man's Fear Of God" (Turkey/Germany), which follows a 45-year-old single man whose core belief in - and fear of - God is put to the test.
The highly coveted People's Choice Award, voted on by Festival audiences, went to the American feature "Bella" written and directed by Alejandro Gomez Monteverde. The story revolves around two individuals whose lives converge and turn upside down on a single day in New York City. Honourable mentions went to first runner-up, Patrice Leconte's "Mon Meilleur Ami" (France), and second runner-up to the freshly entertaining Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck documentary "Dixie Chicks: Shut Up And Sing".
Joachim Trier's "Reprise" from Norway is the recipient of the Diesel Discovery award. A comedic portrayal of two young men whose shared dream of becoming a writer is trampled upon by the harsh face of reality, "Reprise" is Trier's feature filmmaking debut, while the Prize of the International Critics (FIPRESCI Prize) was awarded to Gabriel Range's "Death Of A President" for "the audacity with which it distorts reality to reveal a larger truth." This prize is annually bestowed upon a feature film directed by an emerging filmmaker, and made its world premiere at the Festival.
Other prizes went to Canadian features, this being a Canadian film festival after all. The Citytv Award for Best Canadian First Feature went to Nokl Mitrani for "Sur La Trace D'igor Rizzi", while the Toronto-City Award for Best Canadian Feature Film went to Jennifer Baichwal's documentary "Manufactured Landscapes", a portrait of Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky.
