2020 TIFF wrapup

Announcing the recipient of the #TIFF20 Amplify Voices Award for Best Canadian Feature Film presented by @CanadaGoose: Michelle Latimer’s INCONVENIENT INDIAN pic.twitter.com/VJoCMCsDiw

— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) September 20, 2020

The 2020 Toronto International Film Festival had some drive-in film journeys, a few IRL screenings, and mostly a streaming experience.

Beans from Tracey Deer finished 2nd runner up for the People's Choice Award. Inconvenient Indian from Michelle Latimer won the Documentary Award and Best Canadian Feature Film. The last documentary to win Best Canadian Feature Film was When Jews Were Funny (2013).

The sad news is that there is no award given for Best Canadian First Feature Film, an award that had been handed out since 1997. There weren't enough films to have this be a category in 2020.

Latimer's new TV show got a sneak preview. Trickster airs on CBC and CBC Gem early next month.

Your #TIFF20 People’s Choice Award runners-up 👇

1st runner-up: @ReginaKing’s ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI...
2nd runner-up: @TraceyDeer’s BEANS pic.twitter.com/fdLQEMcBS5

— TIFF (@TIFF_NET) September 20, 2020

Tracey Deer was honoured with the TIFF Emerging Talent Award at the TIFF Tribute Awards that aired in Canada on CTV. Variety streamed the awards internationally.

Nomadland from Chloé Zhao won the People's Choice Award. One Night in Miami, the directorial debut from Regina King, was 1st runner up. Beans finished behind those film as 2nd runner up. All 3 directors are female.

Latimer said she would split the $10,000 cash prize for Best Canadian Feature Film/Amplify Voices award evenly between 5 emerging Indigenous artists.

Canadian actor Eli Goree portrays Cassius Clay in One Night in Miami.

2020 TIFF preview

2020 TIFF Canadian film preview

When TIFF concentrated on Canadian films for the opening night film

2020 TIFF Rising Stars

We should know soon which Canadian film will compete for the Best International Feature Film. The Oscars category should be a lot more intriguing this season with limited Hollywood film fare. As we noted earlier, that film choice almost certainly won't come from 2020 TIFF.

In a year of limited film choices, maybe the selection will come from a Canadian co-production.

Antigone was the Best Canadian Feature Film of 2019 and Canada's submission to the Academy Awards.

Canadian film notebook: TIFF offering a digital version of Bell Lightbox

Q with Tom Power does a great job at spotlighting TIFF coverage even in normal times. Power's interview with Tracey Deer is especially poignant.

Power talked with director Charles Officer and writer Motion on heir new film Akilla's Escape. Directors Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt discussed their documentary No Ordinary Man, about trans jazz musician Billy Tipton.

Power also talks with Eli Glasner on his take of the 2020 version of TIFF. Glasner had high praise for Shiva Baby, a Canada co-production.

Q airs on CBC Radio One at 10 am local time and is available in podcast form.

CanadianCrossing.com film reviews

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

Rising Stars Alumni and #TIFF20 Ambassador @tatianamaslany sent us this lovely message to reminisce about her first TIFF experience and to thank the audiences that keep coming back for more. pic.twitter.com/eGG3h2qz45

— TIFF Industry (@TIFF_Industry) September 11, 2020

Celebrity sightings. Streets filled with tourists. People waiting in line outside hoping to get into a sold-out screening. Those are some of what was missing from the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.

The realisation that digital screenings were limited was intriguing. The limit is quite logical to give the festival prestige. This 2020 version of TIFF was about the films more than the outside factors. A 2019 highlight was Tom Hanks ending up in a random cafe in Toronto. That was definitely missing in Toronto in 2020.

2020 TIFF Rising Stars

TIFF Rising Stars

We profiled the 2020 class of TIFF Rising Stars here. Here is the list from all the years.

2011 Sarah Allen, Katie Boland, Sarah Gadon, Keon Mohajeri

2012 Tatiana Maslany, Connor Jessup, Charlotte Sullivan, Charlie Carrick

2013 Megan Park, Johnathan Sousa, Evelyne Brochu, Cara Gee

2014 Shannon Kook, Sophie Desmarais, Alexandre Landry, Julia Sarah Stone

2015 Deragh Campbell, Stephan James, Aliocha Schneider, Karelle Tremblay

2016 Jared Abrahamson, Grace Glowicki, Mylène Mackay, Sophie Nélisse

2017 Daniel Doheny, Mary Galloway, Théodore Pellerin, Ellen Wong

2018 Devery Jacobs, Lamar Johnson, Michaela Kurimsky, Jess Salgueiro

2019 Kacey Rohl, Mikhail Ahooja, Nahéma Ricci, Shamier Anderson

2020 Madeleine Sims-Fewer

Best Canadian Feature Film

I have added Kanehsatake: 270 Years Of Resistance and Cairo Time to the films I've seen from this list.

Best Canadian Feature Film
Year	Film	Director
2020	Inconvenient Indian	Michelle Latimer
2019	Antigone	Sophie Deraspe
2018	The Fireflies Are Gone	Sebastien Pilote
2017	Les Affamés	Robin Aubert
2016	Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves	Mathieu Denis, Simon Lavoie
2015	Closet Monster	Stephen Dunn
2014	Felix and Meira	Maxime Giroux
2013	When Jews Were Funny	Alan Zweig
2012	Laurence Anyways	Xavier Dolan
2011	Monsieur Lazhar	Philippe Falardeau
2010	Incendies	Denis Villeneuve
2009	Cairo Time	Ruba Nadda
2008	Lost Song	Rodrigue Jean
2007	My Winnipeg	Guy Maddin
2006	Manufactured Landscapes	Jennifer Baichwal
2005	C.R.A.Z.Y.	Jean-Marc Vallée
2004	It's All Gone Pete Tong	Michael Dowse
2003	Les Invasions Barbares	Denys Arcand
2002	Spider	David Cronenberg
2001	Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner)	Zacharias Kunuk
2000	Waydowntown	Gary Burns
1999	The Five Senses	Jeremy Podeswa
1998	Nô	Robert Lepage
1997	The Sweet Hereafter	Atom Egoyan
	The Hanging Garden	Thom Fitzgerald
1996	Long's Day Journey Into The Night	David Wellington
1995	Live Bait	Bruce Sweeney
1994	Exotica	Atom Egoyan
1993	Kanehsatake: 270 Years Of Resistance	Alanis Obomsawin
1992	Requiem Pour Un Beau Sans-Coeur	Robert Morin
1991	The Adjuster	Atom Egoyan
1990	H	Darrell Wasyk
1989	Roadkill	Bruce McDonald
1988	The Outside Chance of Maximilian Glick	Allan Goldstein
1987	Family Viewing	Atom Egoyan
1986	Le Déclin De L'empire Américain	Denys Arcand
1985	Canada's Sweetheart: The Saga Of Hal C. Banks	Donald Brittain
1984	La Femme De L'hôtel	Léa Pool
Best Canadian Feature Film (1991-present); Excellence in Canadian Production (1984-1990).

 

Best Canadian First Feature Film

I've added Luk' Luk'l and Bang Bang Baby. Would love to find Love, Sex and Eating The Bones. Films are much harder to find in this category. Sad that we don't have a 2020 entry but not enough films to qualify in this category.

Best Canadian First Feature Film
Year	Film	Director
2020	no award given	no award given
2019	The Twentieth Century	Matthew Rankin
2018	Roads in February	Katherine Jerkovic
2017	Luk' Luk'l	Wayne Wapeemukwa
2016	Old Stone	Johnny Ma
2015	Sleeping Giant	Andrew Cividino
2014	Bang Bang Baby	Jeffrey St. Jules
2013	Asphalt Watches	Shayne Ehman, Seth Scriver
2012	Antiviral	Brandon Cronenberg
	Blackbird	Jason Buxton
2011	Edwin Boyd	Nathan Morlando
2010	The High Cost of Living	Deborah Chow
2009	The Wild Hunt	Alexandre Franchi
2008	Before Tomorrow	Marie-Hélène Cousineau
		Madeline Piujuq Ivalu
2007	Un Film Sans Fusil Continental	Stéphane Lafleur
2006	Sur La Trace D'igor Rizzi	Nöel Mitrani
2005	The Life And Hard Times Of Guy Terrifico	Louise Archambault, Michael Mabbott
2004	La Peau Blanche	Daniel Roby
2003	Love, Sex and Eating The Bones	Sudz Sutherland
2002	Marion Bridge	Wiebke Von Carolsfeld
2001	Inertia	Sean Garrity
2000	La Moitié Gauche Du Frigo	Philippe Falardeau
1999	Just Watch Me:	Catherine Annau
	Trudeau and The 70's Generation
1998	Last Night	Don McKellar
1997	Cube Vincenzo	Natali
As determined by the Toronto International Film Festival.

 

You can check out all the award winners. The 46th Toronto International Film Festival will hopefully be relatively normal in September 2021.

Twitter captures: @TIFF_net (x2); @TIFF_Industry
photo credit: Inconvenient Indian filmm