2019 Toronto International Film Festival


The 44th annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from 5 to 15 September 2019. The opening gala was the documentary film Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band, directed by Daniel Roher, and the festival closed with a screening of the biographical film Radioactive, directed by Marjane Satrapi.

Awards

In addition to its regular film awards, whose winners were announced at the conclusion of the festival, the festival also announced the inaugural TIFF Tribute Awards, a special program to honour distinguished lifetime achievement in film. Tribute Awards were presented to Meryl Streep and Joaquin Phoenix for acting, Taika Waititi for directing, cinematographer Roger Deakins for artisan film craft, Mati Diop for emerging talent, Participant Media for impact media, and David Foster for special contributions to film.
The first award recipients were announced on 12 September, with the major awards announced at the close of the festival on 15 September. In light of the fact that international filmmakers are rarely still in Toronto to accept their awards in person by the end of the festival, the organizers opted to cancel the traditional awards ceremony, and instead announced the award winners through TIFF's social media.
Nicolas Cage was awarded with the Creative Coalition's Spotlight Initiative Award for his role in Color Out of Space.
AwardFilmDirector
People's Choice AwardJojo RabbitTaika Waititi
People's Choice Award, First Runner UpMarriage StoryNoah Baumbach
People's Choice Award, Second Runner UpParasiteBong Joon-ho
People's Choice Award: DocumentaryThe CaveFeras Fayyad
People's Choice Award: Documentary, First Runner UpI Am Not AloneGarin Hovannisian
People's Choice Award: Documentary, Second Runner UpDadsBryce Dallas Howard
People's Choice Award: Midnight MadnessThe PlatformGalder Gaztelu-Urrutia
People's Choice Award: Midnight Madness, First Runner UpThe Vast of NightAndrew Patterson
People's Choice Award: Midnight Madness, Second Runner UpBlood QuantumJeff Barnaby
Platform PrizeMartin EdenPietro Marcello
Platform Prize, Honorable MentionAnne at 13,000 Ft.Kazik Radwanski
Platform Prize, Honorable MentionProximaAlice Winocour
Best Canadian Feature FilmAntigoneSophie Deraspe
Best Canadian Feature Film, Honourable MentionThe Body Remembers When the World Broke OpenElle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Kathleen Hepburn
Best Canadian Short FilmDelphineChloé Robichaud
Best Canadian Short Film, Honourable MentionThe Physics of SorrowTheodore Ushev
Best Canadian First Feature FilmThe Twentieth CenturyMatthew Rankin
FIPRESCI Discovery PrizeMurmurHeather Young
FIPRESCI Special PresentationsHow to Build a GirlCoky Giedroyc
Best International Short FilmAll Cats Are Grey in the DarkLasse Linder
Best International Short Film, Honourable MentionThe NapFederico Luis Tachella
NETPAC Award for World or International Asian Film Premiere1982Oualid Mouaness

Programme

The selection for the 2019 festival:

Gala presentations

Special events

Special presentations

Contemporary World Cinema

Masters

Documentaries

Discovery

Short Cuts

Midnight Madness

Platform

Primetime

Cinemathèque

Wavelengths

Canada's Top Ten

TIFF's annual Canada's Top Ten list, its national critics and festival programmers poll of the ten best feature and short films of the year, was released on 11 December 2019.

Feature films