Toronto International Film Festival Award for Best Canadian Film

The Toronto International Film Festival Award for Best Canadian Film is an annual juried film award, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival to a film judged to be the best Canadian feature film.^[1]

As with TIFF's other juried awards, the jury has the discretion to name one or more honorable mentions in addition to the overall winner, but are normally expected to name a single winner. On only one occasion to date, in 1997, were two full winners of the award named in the same year.

From 2020 to 2022, the award was presented as one of three Amplify Voices awards rather than as a standalone category. The Amplify Voices awards were presented to three films overall, with one award open to all feature films made by Canadian directors and designated as the Amplify Voices Award for Best Canadian Film, while the other two awards are open to any feature films, regardless of nationality, directed by BIPOC filmmakers; however, all three awards are selected and presented by the same jury. In 2023, this ceased and the award reverted to being presented separately from the Amplify Voices awards, although the same jury remained in charge of presenting both awards.

In 2024, concurrently with the reintroduction of the Best Canadian Discovery Award, TIFF announced a slight change to the award rules, whereby it will now only be open to films which are their filmmakers' third or later titles, while first or second films will be eligible only for the Discovery award.^[2]

Winners

Films whose titles are highlighted in yellow were the winners of the award; non-highlighted films were given honorable mentions.

Year	Film	Director	ACCT honours	Reference
1984	A Woman in Transit (La Femme de l'hôtel)	Léa Pool	Best Picture nominee (6th Genie Awards)	[3]
1985	Canada's Sweetheart: The Saga of Hal C. Banks	Donald Brittain		[4]
1986	The Decline of the American Empire (Le déclin de l'empire américain)	Denys Arcand	Best Picture winner (8th Genie Awards)	[5]
	Sitting in Limbo	John N. Smith
1987	Family Viewing	Atom Egoyan	Best Picture nominee (9th Genie Awards)	[6]
	Artist on Fire	Kay Armatage
1988	The Outside Chance of Maximilian Glick	Allan A. Goldstein	Best Picture nominee (10th Genie Awards)	[7]
1989	Roadkill	Bruce McDonald		[8]
1990	H	Darrell Wasyk		[9]
1991	The Adjuster	Atom Egoyan		[10]
	The Grocer's Wife	John Pozer	Claude Jutra Award winner (14th Genie Awards)
1992	Requiem for a Handsome Bastard (Requiem pour un beau sans-coeur)	Robert Morin	Best Picture nominee (13th Genie Awards)	[11]
	Léolo	Jean-Claude Lauzon	Best Picture nominee (13th Genie Awards)
	Manufacturing Consent	Mark Achbar and Peter Wintonick
1993	Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance	Alanis Obomsawin	Best Documentary nominee (15th Genie Awards)	[12]
	Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould	François Girard	Best Picture winner (14th Genie Awards)
	Zero Patience	John Greyson
1994	Exotica	Atom Egoyan	Best Picture winner (15th Genie Awards)	[13]
	Double Happiness	Mina Shum	Best Picture nominee (15th Genie Awards)
	Windigo	Robert Morin
1995	Live Bait	Bruce Sweeney		[14]
	Curtis's Charm	John L'Ecuyer
	Rude	Clement Virgo	Best Picture nominee (16th Genie Awards)
1996	Long Day's Journey into Night	David Wellington	Best Picture nominee (17th Genie Awards)	[15]
Kissed	Lynne Stopkewich
1997	The Hanging Garden	Thom Fitzgerald	Best Picture nominee (18th Genie Awards)	[16]
	The Sweet Hereafter	Atom Egoyan	Best Picture winner (18th Genie Awards)
1998	Nô	Robert Lepage		[17]
1999	The Five Senses	Jeremy Podeswa	Best Picture nominee (20th Genie Awards)	[18]
	Set Me Free (Emporte-moi)	Léa Pool
2000	waydowntown	Gary Burns		[19]
	Maelström	Denis Villeneuve	Best Picture winner (21st Genie Awards)
2001	Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner	Zacharias Kunuk	Best Picture winner (22nd Genie Awards)	[20]
2002	Spider	David Cronenberg		[21]
2003	The Barbarian Invasions (Les Invasions barbares)	Denys Arcand	Best Picture winner (24th Genie Awards)	[22]
2004	It's All Gone Pete Tong	Michael Dowse	Best Picture nominee (25th Genie Awards)	[23]
	Scared Sacred	Velcrow Ripper	Best Documentary winner (26th Genie Awards)
2005	C.R.A.Z.Y.	Jean-Marc Vallée	Best Picture winner (26th Genie Awards)	[24]
2006	Manufactured Landscapes	Jennifer Baichwal	Best Documentary winner (27th Genie Awards)	[25]
	Monkey Warfare	Reginald Harkema
2007	My Winnipeg	Guy Maddin	Best Documentary nominee (29th Genie Awards)	[26]
2008	Lost Song	Rodrigue Jean		[27]
	Adoration	Atom Egoyan
2009	Cairo Time	Ruba Nadda		[28]
	The Legacy (La Donation)	Bernard Émond
2010	Incendies	Denis Villeneuve	Best Picture winner (31st Genie Awards)	[29]
2011	Monsieur Lazhar	Philippe Falardeau	Best Picture winner (32nd Genie Awards)	[30]
2012	Laurence Anyways	Xavier Dolan	Best Picture nominee (1st Canadian Screen Awards)	[31]
2013	When Jews Were Funny	Alan Zweig		[32]
2014	Felix and Meira (Félix et Meira)	Maxime Giroux	Best Picture nominee (3rd Canadian Screen Awards)	[33]
2015	Closet Monster	Stephen Dunn		[34]
	My Internship in Canada (Guibord s'en va-t-en guerre)	Philippe Falardeau	Best Picture nominee (4th Canadian Screen Awards)
2016	Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves (Ceux qui font les révolutions à moitié n'ont fait que se creuser un tombeau)	Mathieu Denis and Simon Lavoie	Best Picture nominee (5th Canadian Screen Awards)	[35]
2017	Ravenous (Les Affamés)	Robin Aubert	Best Picture nominee (6th Canadian Screen Awards)	[36]
	The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches (La petite fille qui aimait trop les allumettes)	Simon Lavoie	Best Picture nominee (6th Canadian Screen Awards)
2018	The Fireflies Are Gone (La disparition des lucioles)	Sébastien Pilote		[37]
2019	Antigone	Sophie Deraspe	Best Picture winner (8th Canadian Screen Awards)	[38]
	The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open	Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers and Kathleen Hepburn	Best Picture nominee (8th Canadian Screen Awards)
2020	Inconvenient Indian	Michelle Latimer		[39]
	Fauna	Nicolás Pereda		[40]
2021	Ste. Anne	Rhayne Vermette		[41]
	Scarborough	Shasha Nakhai, Rich Williamson	Best Picture winner (10th Canadian Screen Awards)
2022	To Kill a Tiger	Nisha Pahuja	Best Documentary winner (11th Canadian Screen Awards)	[42]
	Viking	Stéphane Lafleur	Best Picture nominee (11th Canadian Screen Awards)	[43]
2023	Solo	Sophie Dupuis	Best Picture nominee (12th Canadian Screen Awards)	[44]
	Kanaval	Henri Pardo	John Dunning Best First Feature nominee (12th Canadian Screen Awards)
2024	Shepherds (Berger)	Sophie Deraspe		[45]

See also

• Vancouver International Film Festival Award for Best Canadian Film

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. Pat Mullen, "TIFF Previews Upcoming Market at Pre-Festival Event". Point of View, August 22, 2024.
3. Jay Scott, "Film wins place in fans' hearts". The Globe and Mail, September 17, 1984.
4. Jay Scott, "Official Story voted most popular film; No Surrender, American Cousin critics' choices". The Globe and Mail, September 16, 1985.
5. "Quebec film Le declin tops in T.O.; Arcands sex comedy wows public and jury". Montreal Gazette, September 15, 1986.
6. Jay Scott, "No attendance figures released; Critics laud Zoo as best film". The Globe and Mail, September 21, 1987.
7. "Spanish film is most popular at Toronto fest". Montreal Gazette, September 20, 1988.
8. Sid Adilman, "Toronto director surprise winner of $25,000 film prize". Toronto Star, September 18, 1989.
9. Jay Scott, "Director 'shocked' to win $25,000 prize; H was 'totally unanimous' choice as best Canadian feature". The Globe and Mail, September 17, 1990.
10. Mark Bastien, "Film festival winner gives $25,000 away". Montreal Gazette, September 16, 1991.
11. Jane Stevenson, "Dark drama cops top honors". Windsor Star, September 21, 1992.
12. Craig MacInnis, "$25,000 Toronto-City prize goes to native filmmaker". Toronto Star, September 20, 1993.
13. "Once again, Egoyan win means double happiness for directors". Vancouver Sun, September 19, 1994.
14. "Film fest names winners". Edmonton Journal, September 18, 1995.
15. "Toronto director scoops top film prize". Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, September 17, 1996.
16. "Hanging Garden wins two awards". The Globe and Mail, September 15, 1997.
17. Peter Howell, "Life's beautiful for Benigni". Toronto Star, September 21, 1998.
18. Liam Lacey, "Five Senses tops jury list at Toronto Film Festival: Canadian audience gazes favourably on American Beauty at award brunch capping off star-studded year". The Globe and Mail, September 20, 1999.
19. Goodridge, Mike (17 September 2000). "waydowntown, Crouching Tiger top Toronto prizes". Screen Daily. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
20. "Inuit film best at fest". St. Catharines Standard, September 17, 2001.
21. "Spider, Whale Rider win big in Toronto". Timmins Daily Press, September 17, 2002.
22. "Barbarian Invasions wins best Canadian feature: Toronto International Film Festival wraps up". Orillia Packet and Times, September 15, 2003.
23. "Hotel Rwanda tops at T.O. film fest". The Province, September 20, 2004.
24. "South African drama is people's choice at TIFF". The Globe and Mail, September 19, 2005.
25. "Winners a list of surprises". The Globe and Mail, September 18, 2006.
26. Chris Knight, "Toronto film fest's people's choice award stays home". Vancouver Sun, September 17, 2007.
27. Adam McDowell, "Slumdog emerges as top dog at TIFF; People's Choice". National Post, September 15, 2008.
28. Cassandra Szklarski, "Toronto film fest audiences choose Precious". Waterloo Region Record, September 21, 2009.
29. "Incendies Passes $1M Mark at the Canadian Box Office". Telefilm Canada. 5 October 2010. Archived from the original on 20 September 2016. Retrieved 6 August 2016.
30. "TIFF: Awards 2011". Toronto International Film Festival. Archived from the original on 29 June 2012. Retrieved 28 January 2012.
31. Mesley, Wendy (16 September 2012). "Xavier Dolan's "Laurence Anyways" won Best Canadian Feature at the TIFF". The National. CBC Television.
32. "TIFF 2013: 12 Years a Slave wins film fest's top prize". The Toronto Star. 15 September 2013.
33. "'The Imitation Game' Wins Toronto Audience Award". The Wrap. 14 September 2014.
34. "'Room' Wins Toronto Film Festival's People's Choice Award". Variety. 20 September 2015.
35. "TIFF People's Choice Award cements La La Land's place in Oscar race". Entertainment Weekly. 18 September 2016.
36. Wilner, Norman (17 September 2017). "TIFF 2017: And The Winners Are ..." Now. Retrieved 17 September 2017.
37. "'Green Book' boosts awards season prospects with TIFF audience award win". Screen Daily, September 16, 2018.
38. Etan Vlessing, "Toronto: Taika Waititi's 'Jojo Rabbit' Wins Audience Award". The Hollywood Reporter, September 15, 2019.
39. Etan Vlessing, "Toronto: Chloe Zhao's 'Nomadland' Wins Audience Award". The Hollywood Reporter, September 20, 2020.
40. Daniele Alcinii, "TIFF ’20: “Inconvenient Indian” takes People’s Choice Documentary Award". RealScreen, September 21, 2020.
41. Steve Pond, "‘Belfast’ Wins Toronto Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award". TheWrap, September 18, 2021.
42. Christian Zilko, "‘The Fabelmans’ Wins TIFF 2022 People’s Choice Award". IndieWire, September 18, 2022.
43. Hammond, Pete (September 18, 2022). "Steven Spielberg's 'The Fabelmans' Wins Toronto Film Festival People's Choice Award". Deadline. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
44. Steve Pond, "‘American Fiction’ Wins Toronto Film Festival’s Audience Award". TheWrap, September 17, 2023.
45. Harrison Richlin, "Who Will Win the TIFF People’s Choice Award? Live Updates from the Ceremony". IndieWire, September 15, 2024.