TIFF 2011 Award Winners

Director Nadine Labaki's comedy "Where Do We Go Now?" has won the Cadillac People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. Premise of the film follows a group of women in Lebanon who use a variety of schemes to distract their men from tensions that threaten their community.

Runners-up include "Starbuck" and "A Separation".

Audience award winners in the Documentary and Midnight Madness categories are "The Raid" and "The Island President".

The People’s Choice Award is the chief award handed out at TIFF, which does not convene a jury to vote the way the Cannes and Venice film festivals do.

A small jury awarded cash prizes for Canadian films including $30,000 for Best Canadian Feature Film, "Monsieur Lazare", $15,000 for Best Canadian First Feature Film, "Edwin Boyd" and $10,000 for Best Canadian Short Film, "Doubles With Slight Pepper".

And the winners are :

People’s Choice Award: "Where Do We Go Now?," Nadine Labaki
Runners-up: "A Separation," Asghar Farhadi, and "Starbuck," Ken Scott

People’s Choice Award for Documentary: "The Island President," Jon Shenk
Runners-up: "Pearl Jam Twenty," Cameron Crowe, and "First Position," Bess Kargman

People’s Choice Award for Midnight Madness: "The Raid," Gareth Evans
Runners-up: "You're Next," Adam Wingard, and "God Bless America," Bobcat Goldthwait

FIPRESCI Prize for the Discovery Section: "Avalon," Axel Petersen
FIPRESCI Prize for the Special Presentations Section: "The First Man," Gianna Amelio
Best Canadian Feature Film: "Monsieur Lazare," Philippe Falardeau
Best Canadian First Feature Film: "Edwin Boyd," Nathan Morlando
Best Canadian Short Film: "Doubles with Slight Pepper," Ian Harnarine

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Significant Sales @ TIFF 2011

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) reports that 'significant sales' have been negotiated during this year's Festival.

Film sales confirmed to date include "Beauty", "Beloved", "Elles", "Free Men", "Generation P", "God Bless America", "Goon", "Hysteria", "The Hunter", "Into the Abyss", "Killer Joe", "Last Days in Jerusalem", "Life Without Principle", "Your Sister’s Sister", "Sarah Palin –You Betcha!", "Shame", "Terraferma", "The Awakening", "The Incident", "The Lady", "The Raid", "This is not a Film", "Wuthering Heights" and "You’re Next".

Nearly 4,000 industry delegates attended TIFF this year – a 20% growth over 2010 – and worked closely with the Festival’s Sales & Industry Office, which facilitates information sharing and fosters relationships between accredited buyers, sales agents, producers and filmmakers.

The 2011 Toronto International Film Festival runs until September 18, ending with a noon-time Awards Reception.

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