Platform Prize

The Platform Prize is an annual film award, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival to films of "high artistic merit that also demonstrate a strong directorial vision."[1] Introduced in 2015, the award is presented to a film, selected by an international jury of three prominent filmmakers or actors, from among the 12 films screened in the Platform program. Only one winner is selected each year, although as with TIFF's other juried awards the jurors have the discretion to give honorable mentions 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.[2]

According to festival programmer Cameron Bailey, the Platform program and prize were established because "films are passing through the festival without the attention they deserve".[3] He compared Platform's intentions to the Cannes Film Festival's Directors' Fortnight and Un Certain Regard streams rather than its Palme d'Or award,[3] indicating that it was meant to provide a platform for distinctive or innovative films but not to supplant the People's Choice Award as the top award at the festival. The award is named after filmmaker Jia Zhang-ke's 2000 historical drama.[4]

Critical response

In some years, the film magazine Screen International 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.[5] Their panel in 2017 selected Warwick Thornton's Sweet Country, the same film that won the prize,[6] but their panel in 2018 split between two films, Benjamín Naishtat's Rojo and Emir Baigazin's The River,[7] while the festival jury awarded the prize to Ho Wi Ding's Cities of Last Things;[8] 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.[3][9] Canadian documentary filmmaker Alan Zweig, 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.[9] The 2016 jury's choice of Pablo Larraín's Jackie has also been questioned by critics, in particular because the Platform lineup that year also included Moonlight, which went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.[9]

Films

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

Year	Winner	Other films	Jury
2015	Hurt, Alan Zweig[10]	Bang Gang (A Modern Love Story), Eva Husson The Clan, Pablo Trapero French Blood, Diastème Full Contact, David Verbeek High-Rise, Ben Wheatley Land of Mine, Martin Zandvliet Looking for Grace, Sue Brooks Neon Bull, Gabriel Mascaro The Promised Land, He Ping Sky, Fabienne Berthaud The White Knights, Joachim Lafosse	Jia Zhang-ke Claire Denis Agnieszka Holland
2016	Jackie, Pablo Larraín[11]	Daguerrotype, Kiyoshi Kurosawa Goldstone, Ivan Sen Heal the Living, Katell Quillévéré † Hema Hema: Sing Me a Song While I Wait, Khyentse Norbu Home, Fien Troch Lady Macbeth, William Oldroyd Layla M., Mijke de Jong Searchers, Zacharias Kunuk and Natar Ungalaaq Moonlight, Barry Jenkins Nocturama, Bertrand Bonello Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves, Mathieu Denis and Simon Lavoie	Brian de Palma[4] Mahamat-Saleh Haroun[4] Zhang Ziyi[4]
2017	Sweet Country, Warwick Thornton[12]	Beast, Michael Pearce Brad's Status, Mike White Custody, Xavier Legrand Dark River, Clio Barnard The Death of Stalin, Armando Iannucci Euphoria, Lisa Langseth If You Saw His Heart, Joan Chemla Mademoiselle Paradis, Barbara Albert Razzia, Nabil Ayouch The Seen and Unseen, Kamila Andini What Will People Say, Iram Haq	Chen Kaige Małgorzata Szumowska Wim Wenders
2018	Cities of Last Things, Ho Wi Ding[8]	Angelo, Markus Schleinzer Destroyer, Karyn Kusama Donnybrook, Tim Sutton The Good Girls, Alejandra Márquez Abella Her Smell, Alex Ross Perry The Innocent, Simon Jaquemet Jessica Forever, Caroline Poggi and Jonathan Vinel Lady J (Mademoiselle de Joncquières), Emmanuel Mouret Out of Blue, Carol Morley † The River, Emir Baigazin Rojo, Benjamín Naishtat	Lee Chang-dong Béla Tarr Mira Nair
2019	Martin Eden, Pietro Marcello[13]	† Anne at 13,000 Ft., Kazik Radwanski The Moneychanger, Federico Veiroj My Zoe, Julie Delpy † Proxima, Alice Winocour Rocks, Sarah Gavron The Sleepwalkers, Paula Hernández Sound of Metal, Darius Marder Wet Season, Anthony Chen Workforce, David Zonana	Carlo Chatrian Jessica Kiang Athina Rachel Tsangari
2020	Award not presented, due to the reduced program in light of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.

References

1. "TIFF reveals Cannes-centric jury for 2018 Platform competition". The Globe and Mail, May 10, 2018.
2. "Air France signs with TIFF". Media in Canada, August 11, 2017.
3. "At TIFF, a competition that's still not competitive". The Globe and Mail, September 14, 2017.
4. "TIFF '16 names its Platform Jury". Toronto International Film Festival. August 25, 2016.
5. "'Rojo', 'The River' top Screen's final TIFF Platform jury grid". Screen Daily, September 13, 2018.
6. "'Sweet Country' tops Screen’s Toronto Platform jury grid". Screen Daily, September 20, 2017.
7. "TIFF 2018: Rojo deserves to win the Platform Prize". Now, September 15, 2018.
8. "TIFF 2018 Awards: ‘Green Book’ Wins the People’s Choice Award, Upsetting ‘A Star Is Born’". IndieWire, September 16, 2018.
9. "Will TIFF's Platform Prize ever take off?". Now, May 16, 2018.
10. "‘Room’ wins TIFF People’s choice Award". Toronto Star, September 20, 2015.
11. "TIFF People's Choice Award cements La La Land's place in Oscar race". Entertainment Weekly. September 18, 2016.
12. Vlessing, Etan (September 17, 2017). "Toronto: 'Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri' Captures Audience Award"". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
13. Hipes, Patrick (September 12, 2019). "Toronto Film Festival Jury Winners: 'Martin Eden', 'Murmur', 'How To Build A Girl'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 12, 2019.