21/09/2015 - European cinema dominates awards

The best of Europe was on display as Lenny Abrahamson’s Room [+see also:
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film profile] (Ireland/Canada) won the People’s Choice Award at the just concluded Toronto International Film Festival. The People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award went to Ilya Naishuller for Hardcore (Russia/US) while Evgeny Afineevsky won the People’s Choice Documentary Award for Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight For Freedom [+see also:
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The FIPRESCI Prize for the Discovery programme was awarded to Marko Škop for Eva Nová [+see also:
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film profile] (Czech Republic/Slovakia). The jury remarked, “For exploring themes of humanity, dignity, addiction and redemption in a naturalistic, deceptively simple and non-exploitative manner, FIPRESCI is pleased to present the prize in the Discovery programme to Marko Škop's haunting debut feature Eva Nová.” The FIPRESCI Special Presentations Prize was awarded to Jonás Cuarón’s Desierto [+see also:
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Jurors Jia Zhang-ke, Claire Denis and Agnieszka Holland awarded the first ever Toronto Platform Prize to Alan Zweig for Hurt (Canada). The jury remarked, “It is a film that explores the complexity and fragility of human destiny in a country that much of the world sees as a paradise.”

The City of Toronto Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film went to Andrew Cividino’s Sleeping Giant while the Canada Goose Award for Best Canadian Feature Film went to Stephen Dunn’s Closet Monster. The Shorts Cuts Award for Best Canadian Short Film went to Patrice Laliberté for Overpass and the Short Cuts Award for Best Short Film to Maïmouna Doucouré’s Maman(s) (France).

The NETPAC Award for World or International Asian Film Premiere went to Sion Sono for The Whispering Star (Japan).