Festivals

Toronto Film Festival 2009

Lee Daniels's Powerful Precious Captures People's Choice Award

The 34th Toronto International Film Festival wrapped on Saturday, Sept. 19th with the Awards Reception at the Intercontinental Hotel Toronto.

The People's Choice Award went to Lee Daniels's Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire, the vibrant, honest and resoundingly hopeful story of Claireece "Precious" Jones, an illiterate African-American teenager who is pregnant for the second time by her absent father and abused by a poisonously angry mother, and must dig deep into her own resources to break the chains of ignorance.

In two new categories, the People's Choice Award for Documentary went to Leanne Pooley's The Topp Twins, about New Zealand's finest lesbian country-and-western singers, and the award for Midnight Madness to Sean Byrne's The Loved Ones, in which a troubled teen's prom dreams are shattered by a series of painful events that take place under the mirrored disco ball.

The FIPRESCI Prize for Discovery, voted on by international critics, was awarded to Indian director Laxmikant Shetgaonkar's The Man Beyond the Bridge, about a widowed forest ranger who develops an intimate relationship with a mentally ill woman, risking becoming an outcast. The FIPRESCI Prize for Special Presentations went to France's Bruno Dumont for Hadewijch, a hypnotic study of the possibilities and consequences that arise from an absolute belief in God, and the fascinating dynamic that emerges.

Alexandre Franchi's The Wild Hunt, set in the fantasy-reality of a large role-playing game, won the Skyy Vodka Award for Best Canadian First Feature, while the Toronto City Award for Best Canadian Feature Film was awarded to Ruba Nadda's Cairo Time, a superbly directed lyrical about the intricacies of passionate romance that, for practical reasons, can never be realized. The award for Best Canadian Short Film went to Pedro Pires' Danse Macabre, an exquisitely photographed morbid ballet pushing the traditional dance film to new cinematic heights.

THE 2009 AWARD WINNERS

FIPRESCI PRIZE (Prize of The International Critics)
Discovery -- The Man Beyond The Bridge, dir. Laxmikant Shetgaonkar (India)
Special Presentations -- Hadewijch, dir. Bruno Dumont (France)

CADILLAC PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD
Feature Film -- Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire, dir. Lee Daniels (U.S.A.)
Honorable Mention:
Mao's Last Dance, dir. Bruce Beresford
Micmacs, dir. Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Documentary -- The Topp Twins, dir. Leanne Pooley
Honorable Mention:
Capitalism: A Love Story, dir. Michael Moore
Midnight Madness -- The Loved Ones, dir. Sean Byrne
Honorable Mention:
Daybreakers, dir. Michael and Peter Spierig

AWARDS FOR CANADIAN FILMS
Best Canadian Short Film
Danse Macabre, dir. Pedro Pires
Honorable Mention:
The Armoire, dir. Jamie Travis
Skyy Vodka Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film
The Wild Hunt, dir. Alexandre Franchi
City of Toronto and Astral Media's The Movie Network Award for Best Canadian Feature Film
Cairo Time, dir. Ruba Nadda
Special Citation:
La Donation (The Legacy), dir. Bernard Emond

For more information, check out the Toronto Film Festival OFFICIAL SITE.

DIESEL FILM DISCOVERY AWARD
Hunger, dir. Steve McQueen (U.S.A.)
FIPRESCI PRIZE (Prize of The International Critics)
Discovery -- Lymelife, dir. Derick Martini (U.S.A.)
Special Presentations -- Disgrace, dir. Steve Jacobs (U.S.A.)
CADILLAC PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD
Slumdog Millionaire, dir. Danny Boyle (UK)
Honorable Mention:
More Than A Game, dir. Kristopher Belman
The Stoning of Soraya M., dir. Cyrus Nowrasteh
AWARDS FOR CANADIAN FILMS
SHORT CUTS CANADA AWARD
Block B, dir. Chris Chong Chan Fui
Special Citation:
Next Floor, dir. Denis Villeneuve
CITY-TV AWARD FOR BEST CANADIAN FIRST FEATURE FILM
Before Tomorrow, dir. Marie-Helene Cousineau and Madeline Piujuq Ivalu
Special Citation:
Borderline, dir. Lyne Charlebois
TORONTO-CITY AWARD FOR BEST CANADIAN FEATURE FILM
Lost Song, dir. Rodrigue Jean
Special Citation:
Adoration, dir. Atom Agoyan