TIFF announces its 2025 Awards and Juries

TIFF is delighted to reveal the 2025 award categories, jury members, and prizes that will honour the year’s most exceptional works. The juries, composed of renowned film critics and filmmakers, will evaluate films for prestigious honours including the two Canadian feature film awards, the FIPRESCI Prize from the International Federation of Film Critics, and the NETPAC Award from the Network for the Promotion of Asian Pacific Cinema. All prizes will be presented during an in-person awards ceremony that will also be livestreamed at 10 am ET at TIFF Lightbox on Sunday, September 14, the last day of the Festival. The 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, presented by Rogers, runs September 4–14, 2025.

Awards descriptions including eligibility can be found here: tiff.net/awards

2025 Jury for Best Canadian Feature Film & Best Canadian Discovery Awards

The Best Canadian Discovery Award celebrates works of emerging filmmakers who contribute to enriching the Canadian film landscape. All Canadian first or second feature films in Official Selection are eligible for this award. The winner will receive a cash prize of $10,000. Last year’s winner was Matthew Rankin’s Universal Language.

The Best Canadian Feature Film Award honours the unique craft and storytelling in Canadian cinema. 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. Last year’s prize went to Sophie Deraspe’s Shepherds.

Jennifer Baichwal has been directing and producing documentaries for nearly three decades. Among other films, installations, and lens-based projects, she has made 10 feature documentaries including the Festival Official Selections Manufactured Landscapes (Best Canadian Feature Film, TIFF ’06); Long Time Running (Gala Presentations, TIFF ’17); and ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch (Canada’s Top Ten, TIFF ’18).

Sophie Jarvis is a Swiss-Canadian filmmaker whose feature debut Until Branches Bend (TIFF ’22) won the Prix de Soleure at the Solothurner Filmtage, the Netflix Breakthrough Award at the Athena Film Festival, and Best BC Film at VIFF. It also received a CSA nomination for Best Original Screenplay in 2023.

R.T. Thorne is a prolific triple threat: director, screenwriter, and producer. His television work has garnered multiple Canadian Screen Awards and an Emmy nomination. His critically acclaimed feature debut, 40 Acres (TIFF ’24), starring Danielle Deadwyler, is a Canada’s Top Ten honouree. The film had its North American theatrical release this summer.

2025 FIPRESCI Jury

The FIPRESCI Prize is presented by an international jury selected by the International Federation of Film Critics. Founded in 1925, the Federation awards the prize at international film festivals 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.

Katharina Dockhorn studied history and cultural studies at Humboldt University in Berlin. Since 1993, she has been working as a freelance journalist for television stations, daily newspapers, monthly magazines, and trade papers. Her areas of expertise include film policy and the film industry. She was one of the founding members of the Professional Association of German Media Journalists, of which she is a board member.

Francisco Ferreira is a journalist and film critic born in Lisbon. He graduated as a mechanical engineer from the Technical University of Lisbon, where he began programming for the film club. His collaborations have appeared in a number of books, texts published by film festival catalogues and international film magazines such as Cahiers du Cinéma (France), Film Comment (USA), Cinema Scope (Canada), and Caiman Cuadernos de Cine (Spain). He has been working as a film critic for the Portuguese press since 1998.

Jean-Philippe Guerand has been a film journalist since 1982 and a member of the French Union of Film Critics. He has contributed to French publications such as Première, Le Film Français, TéléCinéObs and L’Avant-Scène Cinéma. Host of the blog Persona Grata, he has also written biographies of Woody Allen, Cyril Collard, James Dean, Jacques Tati, Bernard Blier, and Jean Rochefort.

Andy Hazel is a film journalist based in Melbourne, Australia where he is also the senior editorial producer at The Saturday Paper. Andy is a regular contributor to IndieWire, Guardian Australia, The Curb, and A Rabbit’s Foot. He is also a voting member of the Golden Globes and host of Twin Peaks The Return: A Season Three Podcast.

Justine Smith is the screen editor at Cult MTL and the programmer of the Underground Section at the Fantasia International Film Festival. She’s written for BFI, Little White Lies, Vinegar Syndrome, and Ebert Voices. She is currently working on her first book.

2025 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 2024, the NETPAC Award went to Sue Kim’s The Last of the Sea Women.

Dina Iordanova is a professor of global cinema and an expert in transnational film festivals. She is the author of Film Festivals in East Asia, has been a visiting professor at the University of Hong Kong and Beijing Film Academy, has given masterclasses and served on juries of festivals across Asia, including BIFF and YIDFF.

Helen Lee is a Seoul-born, Toronto-based filmmaker. Her films include: Tenderness (TIFF ’24), Hers At Last (TIFF ’18), The Art of Woo (TIFF ’01), Subrosa (TIFF ’00); Prey (TIFF ’95), My Niagara (TIFF ’92, Special Jury Citation), and Sally’s Beauty Spot (TIFF ’90, Honourable Mention, Best Canadian Short).

Keoprasith Souvannavong (Jury Chair) is a French journalist, born in Laos and based in Paris. He has worked since 1993 for Radio France Internationale, for which he has covered various international film festivals. He also acted in the feature film The Scent of Green Papaya, which received the Caméra d’Or at the Cannes and was nominated for an Academy Award.

People’s Choice Awards presented by Rogers

A longstanding TIFF tradition, the People’s Choice Awards are marking their 48th year. The People’s Choice Award is an Oscars bellwether with a rich history; past winners include Chariots of Fire, The Princess Bride, Slumdog Millionaire, and the 2023 debut feature from Cord Jefferson, American Fiction. All feature films and series in TIFF’s Official Selection are eligible.

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About TIFF
TIFF is a not-for-profit cultural organization with a mission to transform the way people see the world through film. A global leader in film and entertainment, TIFF initiatives include the annual Toronto International Film Festival® in September; TIFF Lightbox, which features five cinemas, learning and entertainment facilities; the Donald Shebib TIFF Film Circuit, an innovative national distribution program; and TIFF: The Market launching in 2026. The organization generates an estimated annual economic impact of $240 million CAD. TIFF Lightbox is generously supported by contributors including the Province of Ontario, the Government of Canada, the City of Toronto, the Reitman family (Ivan Reitman, Agi Mandel, and Susan Michaels), The Daniels Corporation, and RBC. For more information, visit tiff.net.

TIFF is generously supported by Festival Presenting Sponsor Rogers Communications.

TIFF is generously supported by Major Sponsors RBC and Visa and Major Supporters the Government of Ontario, Telefilm Canada, and the City of Toronto.