TIFF 2020 award winners announced

The 45th Toronto International Film Festival closed last night with a drive-screening of Mira Nair’s A Suitable Boy. “TIFF 2020 was a year we won’t soon forget,” said Cameron Bailey, TIFF Artistic Director and Co-Head. “Over
the last 10 days, we have experienced community in the truest sense. The pandemic hit TIFF hard and we responded by going back to our original inspiration — to bring the very best in film to the broadest possible
audience and transform the way people see the world through film. We heeded the urgent calls for greater representation of under-represented voices. And we watched as audiences embraced cinema’s ability to
transport them through screens of all sizes by joining us online from all over this country — something that we would never have seen in previous years. TIFF delivered on its promise to provide Festival-goers and the
industry with impactful programming. We are very proud of what the TIFF team accomplished.”

For the first time ever, TIFF’s leading fundraiser, the TIFF Tribute Awards, was broadcast across Canada on CTV and ctv.ca, and streamed internationally to the rest of the world by Variety. During the one-hour
broadcast, Academy Award–winners Kate Winslet and Sir Anthony Hopkins each received a TIFF Tribute Actor Award; Nomadland director Chloé Zhao was awarded the TIFF Ebert Director Award; Oscar–nominated filmmaker Mira Nair was honoured with the Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media; Grammy Award–winning composer Terence Blanchard, whose work was featured in this year’s films Bruised and One Night In Miami…, received the TIFF Variety Artisan Award; and Beans director Tracey Deer was awarded the TIFF Emerging Talent Award.

The TIFF 2020 People’s Choice Award winners:

Nomadland directed by Chloé Zhao.

The first runner up is One Night in Miami… directed by Regina King. The second runner up is Beans directed by Tracey Deer.

Documentary Award winner is Inconvenient Indian directed by Michelle Latimer.

Midnight Madness Award winner is Shadow in the Cloud directed by Roseanne Liang.

Shawn Mendes Foundation Changemaker Award 2020:

Winner: Black Bodies, a short film by Kelly Fyffe-Marshall.

Awarded to a Festival film that tackles issues of social change, and comes with a $10,000 cash prize. The jurors for the Changemaker Award are
members of TIFF’s Next Wave Committee: Saharla Ugas, Sia Mehta, Emanuel Ntwig, Julia Yoo, Daeja Sutherland, Lina Zhang, Delphine Winton, Joe Ning, Caterina Ferrari, Visaree Bradshaw-Coore, Andrea Landaeta, and Diego Lopez.

Amplify Voices Awards

Amplify Voices Award for Best Canadian Feature Film: Inconvenient Indian, dir. Michelle Latimer

Special Mention: Fauna, dir. Nicolás Pereda (Canadian Film)

Amplify Voices Award: The Disciple, dir. Chaitanya Tamhane

Amplify Voices Award: Night of the Kings, dir. Philippe Lacôte

Special Mention: Downstream to Kinshasa, dir. Dieudo Hamadi

The 2020 jurors for the Amplify Voices Awards presented by Canada Goose are actor Sarah Gadon, filmmaker Danis Goulet, and producer Damon D’Oliveira.

IMDbPro Short Cuts Awards

IMDbPro Short Cuts Award for Best Film: Dustin, dir. Naïla Guiguet

IMDbPro Short Cuts Award for Best Canadian Film: Benjamin, Benny, Ben, dir. Paul Shkordoff

IMDbPro Short Cuts Share Her Journey Award: Sing Me a Lullaby, dir. Tiffany Hsiung

Honourable mention: O Black Hole!, dir. Renee Zhan

The 2020 jurors for the IMDbPro Short Cuts Awards are filmmakers Stella Meghie, Adam Piron, and Chloé Robichaud.

“The films and talent featured in this year’s Festival have left us inspired and moved,” said Joana Vicente, TIFF Executive Director and Co-Head. ”In a time where the very future of our beloved art form was in question due to cinema and production shutdowns and film festival cancellations, we have seen a tenacity of spirit. We’re heartened by the support and generosity from TIFF’s loyal sponsors, donors, members, and public audiences who encouraged us to deliver a reimagined Festival. We’re grateful for the industry delegates and press corps who championed TIFF’s decision to go ahead with the Festival. We are excited by the fact that 46% of the films screened this year were either directed, co-directed or created by women. We are inspired by the generosity of the industry, who gave their time to be present — virtually — in support of the Festival. And, finally, we are genuinely moved by the commitment of all TIFF’s stakeholders who helped
us deliver the TIFF Tribute Awards to Canadian and international audiences.”