The 44th TIFF has just wrapped in Canada, and several Mediterranean films have won awards there.
The People’s Choice Award is for three films selected and voted by festival audiences. Since 2009 the award has been split into three categories: Film, Documentary and Midnight Madness.
• PEOPLE’S CHOICE: MIDNIGHT MADNESS AWARD
The Platform, by Spanish director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia
An
apocalyptic vision of the future. Two people per level. An unknown
number of levels. A platform with food for all. Are you one of those
who think too much when they are up? Or someone who lacks courage
when they are down? If you find the answer too late, you won’t come
out of the hole alive.
• PEOPLE’S CHOICE: DOCUMENTARY AWARD
The Cave by Syrian director Feras Fayyad
The director returns to the country of his birth to film a team of women doctors. Day after day in an underground hospital they treat the victims of war, while also fighting the sexism imposed by the system.
In 2015 the festival created an international jury of three film personalities. Together, they award $20,000 to the best selection of the platform.
• TORONTO PLATFORM PRIZE
Martin Eden, by the Italian director Pietro Marcello
In the docks of Naples, a young working-class sailor, Martin Eden, rescues a man of his own age being mugged. To thank him, the young man, clearly wealthier, invites Martin to his home, where the sailor meets the young man’s sister Elena, and falls in love with her. Martin decides to study and become a writer, while continuing to work for a living. His relationship with Elena grows. At her graduation party, Martin meets Brissenden, who introduces him to socialist circles and philosophy.
The Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema participates in many film festivals in Asia and beyond, choosing winners for the coveted NETPAC Award for talented Asian films and film-makers.
• NETPAC Award
1982, by the Lebanese director Oualid Mouaness
At the end of the school year, eleven-year-old Wissam decides to confess his love to his classmate Joanna. After many attempts during which his courage falters, he begins to believe that his best friend, who knows his secret, has betrayed his secret. Then, even worse, the school day is suddenly cut short: the Israeli army has invaded the capital, Beirut, the school has to close and the pupils sent home.
