The Toronto International Film Festival Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film is an annual film award, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival to a film judged to be the best Canadian feature film made by a first-time director.

As of 2017, the award is sponsored by the City of Toronto government and thus known as the "City of Toronto Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film".[1]

As with all of TIFF's juried awards, the jury has the discretion to grant one or more honorable mentions in addition to the main award winner.

The award has not been presented since 2019; however, in 2023, the Amplify Voices Award designated one of its two awards for BIPOC Canadian films as a Best First Film award.

Winners

† denotes a film which also won the Best First Feature award at the Genie Awards or the Canadian Screen Awards.

Year Film Director Reference
1997
Cube Vincenzo Natali [2]
1998
Last Night † Don McKellar [3]
1999
Just Watch Me: Trudeau and the '70s Generation Catherine Annau [4]
Full Blast Rodrigue Jean [4]
2000
The Left-Hand Side of the Fridge (La Moitié gauche du frigo) † Philippe Falardeau [5]
Red Deer Anthony Couture [5]
2001
Inertia Sean Garrity [6]
2002
Marion Bridge Wiebke von Carolsfeld [7]
2003
Love, Sex and Eating the Bones Sudz Sutherland [8]
2004
White Skin (La Peau blanche) † Daniel Roby [9]
2005
The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico Michael Mabbott [10]
2006
On the Trail of Igor Rizzi (Sur la trace d'Igor Rizzi) Noël Mitrani [11]
2007
Continental, a Film Without Guns (Continental, un film sans fusil) Stéphane Lafleur [12]
2008
Before Tomorrow (Le Jour avant le lendemain) Marie-Hélène Cousineau, Madeline Ivalu [13]
Borderline Lyne Charlebois [13]
2009
The Wild Hunt Alexandre Franchi [14]
2010
The High Cost of Living Deborah Chow [15]
2011
Citizen Gangster Nathan Morlando [16]
Nuit #1 † Anne Émond [17]
2012
Antiviral Brandon Cronenberg [18]
Blackbird Jason Buxton
2013
Asphalt Watches Shayne Ehman, Seth Scriver [19]
2014
Bang Bang Baby † Jeffrey St. Jules [20]
2015
Sleeping Giant Andrew Cividino [21]
2016
Old Stone † Johnny Ma [22]
2017
Luk'Luk'I Wayne Wapeemukwa [23]
2018
Roads in February (Les routes en février) Katherine Jerkovic [24]
2019
The Twentieth Century Matthew Rankin [25]

See also

References

  1. ^ "TIFF Canadian Slate Offers Peek into Country's Cinematic Future with Bold Feature Debuts Alongside New Works from Festival Vets" (PDF) (Press release). Toronto International Film Festival Inc. 9 August 2017. p. 2. Retrieved 28 August 2017.
  2. ^ "Hanging Garden wins two awards". The Globe and Mail, September 15, 1997.
  3. ^ "Last Night, No, take top prizes at fest". Hamilton Spectator, September 21, 1998.
  4. ^ a b "Hollywood and Toronto big festival winners". Nanaimo Daily News, September 20, 1999.
  5. ^ a b "Toronto International Film Festival: Ang Lee, Burns win top prizes". The Globe and Mail, September 18, 2000.
  6. ^ "Romance, myth and Winnipeg take top honours". The Globe and Mail, September 17, 2001.
  7. ^ "Cronenberg's Spider big winner at film fest". Sudbury Star, September 16, 2002.
  8. ^ "Canadian movies shine at film fest gala". Sherbrooke Record, September 16, 2003.
  9. ^ "Hotel Rwanda wins top festival prize". The Globe and Mail, September 20, 2004.
  10. ^ "Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico takes mocking look at country troubadour". Canadian Press, November 7, 2005.
  11. ^ "Winners a list of surprises". The Globe and Mail, September 18, 2006.
  12. ^ "Toronto film fest's people's choice award stays home". Vancouver Sun, September 17, 2007.
  13. ^ a b "Slumdog takes the people's prize; LeBron James documentary tapped as runner-up". Toronto Star, September 14, 2008.
  14. ^ "It's a wrap for TIFF; Film 'Precious' nabs audience prize at festival, stoking Oscar predictions". Telegraph-Journal, September 21, 2009.
  15. ^ "King's Speech persuades TIFF audience". The Globe and Mail, September 20, 2010.
  16. ^ "The people choose a surprise: Small Lebanese film triumphs over rivals with higher profiles". Toronto Star, September 19, 2011.
  17. ^ Chris Knight, "Lebanese film wins TIFF's top prize; Starbuck is People's Choice runner-up". National Post, September 19, 2011.
  18. ^ "Chester filmmaker wins TIFF award for Blackbird". The Chronicle Herald, September 17, 2012.
  19. ^ "TIFF 2013: 12 Years a Slave wins film fest’s top prize". Toronto Star, 15 September 2013.
  20. ^ "‘The Imitation Game’ Wins Toronto Audience Award". The Wrap, September 14, 2014.
  21. ^ "‘Room’ Wins Toronto Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award". Variety, September 20, 2015.
  22. ^ "TIFF People's Choice Award cements La La Land's place in Oscar race". Entertainment Weekly, September 18, 2016.
  23. ^ "Toronto: 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' Captures Audience Award". The Hollywood Reporter, September 17, 2017.
  24. ^ "'Green Book' boosts awards season prospects with TIFF audience award win". Screen Daily, September 16, 2018.
  25. ^ Etan Vlessing, "Toronto: Taika Waititi's 'Jojo Rabbit' Wins Audience Award". The Hollywood Reporter, September 15, 2019.
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