Here are the TIFF 2024 awards categories and Film Juries
TORONTO, August 26, 2024 – TIFF has announced its renowned 2024 award categories, distinguished jury
members, and prizes to celebrate and honour the outstanding works in this year’s Festival
lineup. Back this year after a five-year hiatus and with a new name and criteria, the Best
Canadian Discovery Award salutes the best of emerging Canadian filmmakers in Official
Selection. The juries, featuring distinguished film critics and filmmakers, include three jurors for
the two Canadian feature film awards; five members for FIPRESCI, the International Federation
of Film Critics; three jurors for NETPAC, the Network for the Promotion of Asian Pacific Cinema;
and three jurors each for Platform and Short Cuts (both previously announced). All awards will
be announced on September 15 at TIFF Lightbox.
“TIFF’s annual Festival awards for films in Official Selection are integral to recognizing the
excellence and artistry within our industry,” said Anita Lee, Chief Programming Officer, TIFF.
“Every year, we gather to celebrate the wide spectrum of cinematic talent with the collaboration
and endorsement of our distinguished global juries and peers, and we look forward to
continuing this tradition again in just a few weeks.”
Awards descriptions including eligibility can be found here: tiff.net/awards
BEST CANADIAN DISCOVERY AWARD
Back this year after being on hiatus since 2019, and with a new name and new criteria, the Best
Canadian Discovery Award celebrates works of emerging filmmakers who contribute to
enriching the Canadian film landscape. All first or second feature films in Official Selection by
Canadian filmmakers are eligible for this award. The winner will receive a cash prize of $10,000.
BEST CANADIAN FEATURE FILM AWARD PRESENTED BY CANADA GOOSE
Canada Goose has always played a supporting role in the magic of filmmaking. TIFF continues
to celebrate the unique craft and storytelling within Canadian cinema with the Best Canadian
Feature Film Award. All Canadian feature films in Official Selection — excluding first or second
features — will be considered for the award. The winning filmmaker will receive a $10,000 cash
prize. The 2024 Best Canadian Feature Film Award is presented by Canada Goose.
The 2024 Jury for the Best Canadian Feature Film and for the Best Canadian Discovery Award:
Estrella Araiza is the General Director of the Guadalajara International Film Festival and
Cineteca FICG. Her work has focused on Mexican and Latin American cinema. Her career
includes experience as the director of Industry and Market at the FICG, a sales agent, an academic, and a cinema distributor. She has served on juries for international film festivals and
has collaborated with international film markets.
Chelsea McMullan is a director and producer based in Toronto. Their work in documentary,
experimental narrative, and hybrid films often explore the work of leading international artists
through the cinematic frame. McMullan directed Swan Song (CBC/Dogwoof), a vérité-driven
feature documentary that premiered at TIFF ’23 and four-part limited series that follows the
National Ballet of Canada as the company mounts a new production of Swan Lake. Their other
films include Ever Deadly, Crystal Pite: Angels’ Atlas, and My Prairie Home.
Randall Okita is a Japanese Canadian artist and filmmaker known for innovative storytelling and
rich visual language. His work, which spans film, VR, and sculpture, has earned more than 20
international awards, including two Canadian Screen Awards, a Webby, and a Japan Prize.
FIPRESCI JURY
The FIPRESCI Prize is presented by an international jury selected by the International Federation
of Film Critics. Founded in 1925, the Federation is an organization of professional film critics
and film journalists for the promotion and development of film culture and the safeguarding of
professional interests. The Federation awards the prize at international film festivals and film
festivals of particular importance to promote film art and to encourage new and young cinema.
The FIPRESCI Jury will award the Prize of International Critics, dedicated to emerging
filmmakers, to a debut feature film having its World Premiere in TIFF’s Discovery programme.
Last year’s winner was Meredith Hama-Brown’s Seagrass.
Li Cheuk-to is Curator at Large of Hong Kong Film and Media for M+ Museum, and is also the
current Board Chairman of Hong Kong Film Critics Society after serving as its founding
President from 1995 to 1999. He has been the Artistic Director of Hong Kong International Film
Festival Society from 2004 to 2018.
Pierre-Simon Gutman is deputy editor of the movie review L’Avant Scene Cinema. After studying
literature at La Sorbonne, he wrote his PHD thesis on the American filmmaker Michael Cimino.
He has written for 3 Couleurs, Les Fiches du Cinéma, and Eclipse(s). He teaches cinema at
l’ESRA in Paris and Brussels, after having previously taught at the universities Paris VII and
Nancy 2. He has also directed several short features and was for many years a programmer for
the Critics’ Week of the Cannes Film Festival, on both the short and feature-film committees. He
currently sits on the administration board of the Critics’ Week. He also was a member of the
official jury for the Camera d’Or at the 2021 edition of the Cannes Film Festival.
Azadeh Jafari is a film critic, writer, and translator based in Tehran. She contributes regularly to
different film magazines in Iran. Her English writing on world cinema has appeared in Cinema
Scope, Film Comment, Reverse Shot, LOLA, and on the TIFF website. She has translated Berenice
Reynaud’s book A City of Sadness on Hou Hsiao-hsien’s masterpiece into Persian and has also
contributed to the book Luminous Void – Twenty Years of Experimental Film Society.
Saffron Maeve is a Toronto-based critic and film programmer. Her writing has appeared in Film
Comment, The Globe & Mail, MUBI Notebook, Cinema Scope, Toronto Star, and Screen Slate. She
is an active member of the Toronto Film Critics Association and GALECA, the Society of LGBTQ
Entertainment Critics.
Wilfred Okiche is a Rotten Tomatoes–certified culture critic and film programmer. He has
attended critic programs and reported from film and theatre festivals in Locarno, Rotterdam,
Stockholm, and Sundance. Wilfred has worked on the programming team for Film Africa in
London and Encounters in South Africa. He has mentored fast rising film critics at Talents
Durban and served on the selection committee of Berlinale Talents. His writing has appeared in
Variety, IndieWire, The Continent, and Senses of Cinema among other publications. He is a
member of FIPRESCI and has participated in juries at the Berlinale, Palm Springs, and Carthage
film festivals. He is in graduate school studying film and media at the University of Southern
California.
NETPAC JURY
Presented by the Network for the Promotion of Asian Pacific Cinema, the NETPAC Award
recognizes films specifically from the Asian and Pacific regions. The jury consists of three
international community members selected by TIFF and NETPAC, who award the prize to the
best Asian film by a first or second-time feature director. In 2023, the NETPAC Award went to
Jayant Digambar Somalkar’s A Match.
Hannah Fisher has spent many years working in the international industry as a festival director,
a festival artistic director, and, most recently, as an international consultant and programmer.
She has particularly loved working in events abroad as with festivals such as Dubai (UAE),
Kolkata, Kerala Ladakh (India), Bangkok, (Thailand), Krakow (Poland), San Diego, Heartland
Festival (USA), and Montreal, and as Director of the Vancouver International Film Festival.
Dr. Vilsoni Hereniko, this year’s jury chairperson, had his first narrative feature film, The Land
Has Eyes, premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 and was Fiji’s submission to the
Academy Awards in 2005. It also won Best Dramatic Feature at the Toronto ImagineNATIVE
Film + Media Arts Festival in 2004. His animated short film won the Berlin Independent Film
Festival in 2022 as well as the Los Angeles International Film Festival the same year. He is also
the current President of NETPAC/USA and a professor at the School of Cinematic Arts at the
University of Hawaiʻi.
Kerri Sakamoto is an award-winning Japanese Canadian author whose books have been
translated into numerous languages and published internationally. She has worked with
acclaimed filmmakers as a screenwriter and story editor.
PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS PRESENTED BY ROGERS
A longstanding TIFF tradition, the People’s Choice Awards are marking their 47th year. The
People’s Choice Award is an Oscars bellwether with a rich history; past winners include Chariots Here are the TIFF of Fire, The Princess Bride, Slumdog Millionaire, and the 2023 debut feature from Cord Jefferson,
American Fiction. All feature films and Primetime series in TIFF’s Official Selection are eligible.
The winners of the People’s Choice Awards will be announced on Sunday, September 15, 2024.
The three audience-voted awards are the People’s Choice Award, the People’s Choice
Documentary Award, and the People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award. The 2023 winners were
American Fiction, Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe, and Dicks: The Musical. The 2024
People’s Choice Awards are presented by Rogers.
The 2024 Jury for TIFF’s competitive programme, Platform, was announced earlier this year and
includes Atom Egoyan, Hur Jin-ho, and Jane Schoenbrun.
As previously announced, the Short Cuts Awards 2024 Jurors are Luis De Filippis, Micah
Kernan, and Shane Smith.
All film awards to be announced at Festival close on September 15.
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