Platform Prize
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The Platform Prize is an annual film award, presented by the
Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...
to films of "high artistic merit that also demonstrate a strong directorial vision.""TIFF reveals Cannes-centric jury for 2018 Platform competition"
''
The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'', May 10, 2018.
Introduced in 2015, the award is presented to a film, selected by an international jury of three prominent filmmakers or actors, from among the films screened in the Platform program. The program normally screens between eight and twelve films; only one winner is selected each year, although as with TIFF's other juried awards the jurors have the discretion to give
honorable mention An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An awar ...
s to other films besides the overall winner. The winner of the Platform Prize receives $25,000 from the award's current corporate sponsor,
Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...
. According to festival programmer
Cameron Bailey Cameron Bailey is a Canadian film critic and festival programmer, who is the CEO of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). Biography Born in London, England to parents from Barbados,"At TIFF, a competition that's still not competitive"
''
The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'', September 14, 2017.
He compared Platform's intentions to the
Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
's
Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (french: Quinzaine des Réalisateurs) is an independent selection of the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festiv ...
and
Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...
streams rather than its
Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
award, indicating that it was meant to provide a platform for distinctive or innovative films but not to supplant the
People's Choice Award The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the general public and fans. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls until ...
as the top award at the festival. The award is named after filmmaker Jia Zhang-ke's 2000 historical drama.


Critical response

In some years, the film magazine ''
Screen International ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global film business. ...
'' has convened its own unofficial panel of film critics, who were assigned to watch all the Platform films and conduct their own independent vote on which film should win the award. Their panel in 2017 selected
Warwick Thornton Warwick Thornton (born 1970) is an Australian film director, screenwriter and cinematographer. His debut feature film ''Samson and Delilah'' won the Caméra d'Or at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and the award for Best Film at the Asia Pacific Sc ...
's '' Sweet Country'', the same film that won the prize, but their panel in 2018 split between two films, Benjamín Naishtat's ' and
Emir Baigazin Emir Kenzhegazyuly Baigazin ( kk, Эмир Кенжеғазыұлы Байғазин, ''Emir Kenjeğazyūly Baiğazin''; born 19 July 1984) is a Kazakh actor and film director, active in the genres of auteur cinema and art-house. Emir Kenzhega ...
's '' The River'',"TIFF 2018: Rojo deserves to win the Platform Prize"
''
Now Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...
'', September 15, 2018.
while the festival jury awarded the prize to Ho Wi Ding's '' Cities of Last Things'';"TIFF 2018 Awards: ‘Green Book’ Wins the People's Choice Award, Upsetting ‘A Star Is Born’"
''
IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Hollyw ...
'', September 16, 2018.
the jury did, however, give ''The River'' an honorable mention. Other critics have questioned whether the Platform Prize has been effective at accomplishing its stated goals at all."Will TIFF's Platform Prize ever take off?"
''
Now Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...
'', May 16, 2018.
Canadian documentary filmmaker
Alan Zweig Alan Zweig is a Canadian documentary filmmaker known for often using film to explore his own life. Early life Alan Zweig was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario and has worked in the film industry as a writer, producer, director, driver, and a ...
, who won the inaugural Platform Prize in 2015 for his film '' Hurt'', noted that while it was not the least successful film of his career in general release, the prize did not appear to give the film any major boost in distribution or box office sales over his other films. The 2016 jury's choice of
Pablo Larraín Pablo Larraín Matte (; born 19 August 1976) is a Chilean filmmaker. He has directed nine feature films and co-directed one television series, including the Academy Award-nominated films ''No (2012 film), No'' (2012), ''Neruda (film), Neruda'' ...
's '' Jackie'' has also been questioned by critics, in particular because the Platform lineup that year also included ''
Moonlight Moonlight consists of mostly sunlight (with little earthlight) reflected from the parts of the Moon's surface where the Sun's light strikes. Illumination The intensity of moonlight varies greatly depending on the lunar phase, but even the ful ...
'', which went on to win the
Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film and is the only category ...
.


Films

† denotes a non-winning film which received an honorable mention from the jury.


References

{{TIFF Toronto International Film Festival awards