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The 2023 Best Canadian Feature Film Award, Amplify Voices Awards, Short Cuts Awards, Changemaker Award, People’s Choice Awards, along with FIPRESCI and NETPAC film jury awards, to be announced at the close of TIFF

TORONTO — The Toronto International Film Festival® is delighted to announce its Award categories, jury members, and prizes for 2023, along with the return of three distinguished international film juries to honour outstanding works in this year’s lineup. The juries, featuring renowned film critics and filmmakers, include five members for FIPRESCI, the International Federation of Film Critics; three jurors for NETPAC, the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema; and three jurors for Platform (previously announced). All awards will be announced on September 17 at the annual Awards Breakfast at TIFF Bell Lightbox. Details to follow in the coming weeks.

“A crucial component of the film industry’s ecosystem, the annual awards presented by TIFF are dedicated to honouring creativity, vision, and excellence,” said Anita Lee, Chief Programming Officer, TIFF. “Every year, we unite to applaud the diverse array of cinematic voices with the support of respected colleagues from the global industry, and this year will be no exception.”

BEST CANADIAN FEATURE FILM AWARD

TIFF continues to celebrate the unique craft and storytelling within Canadian cinema with the Best Canadian Feature Film Award. All 27 Canadian feature films in Official Selection — ranging from debut features to documentaries to films from well-established directors — will be considered for the award.

AMPLIFY VOICES AWARDS PRESENTED BY CANADA GOOSE

Canada Goose embraces diversity in all its forms and definitions, including the technique and passion that transports storytelling to the screen. This year, Canada Goose will again present the Amplify Voices Awards to under-represented filmmakers in Canada. Feature films in Official Selection by Canadian BIPOC filmmakers are eligible for the Best Feature and Best First Feature Award. The Amplify Voices Award will also celebrate a Canadian BIPOC trailblazer, recognizing a producer who has made significant contributions to the Canadian film landscape. The three winners will receive a cash prize of $10,000 each, made possible by Canada Goose. The jurors are:

V.T. Nayani is a multi-hyphenate storyteller working across the screen industries. She is an alumni of the Canadian Film Centre, the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, The Gotham, and BIPOC TV & Film. Nayani’s feature directorial debut, This Place, premiered at TIFF in 2022.

Nisha Pahuja’s documentary credits include To Kill a Tiger, which won the Amplify Voices Award for Best Canadian Feature in 2022 and fifteen other awards. Other directorial credits include The World Before Her (2012), which received an Emmy nomination, and Diamond Road (2008).

Ricardo Acosta is a film editor, script consultant, and member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Canadian Cinema Editors. His editing and story consulting credits include Once Upon a Time in Venezuela (2020), The Letter (2019), The Silence of Others (2018), Sembene! (2015), and Marmato (2014). His films have premiered at Sundance, Cannes, and IDFA, among other international film festivals.

SHORT CUTS AWARDS

Films in the Short Cuts programme are eligible for three jury-selected Short Cuts Awards: Best Short Film, Best Canadian Short Film, and the Share Her Journey Award for best short film by a woman filmmaker. These awards provide each of the three winners with a bursary of $10,000 CAD to help them continue achieving success in their careers. Short Cuts Awards Jurors are:

Aisha Jamal is an Afghan Canadian filmmaker and film programmer. Since 2016, she has been programming Canadian films for the Hot Docs Documentary Festival. Her feature debut A Kandahar Away premiered in 2019 and is now playing on Documentary Channel and screening on CBC Gem in Canada. Her previous short films have played at venues and festivals worldwide.

Araya Mengesha is an Ethiopian Eritrean award-winning filmmaker and actor. His co-written/directed short film DEFUND was a TIFF’s Canada’s Top Ten 2021 selection after its World Premiere at TIFF ’21, collecting wins and nominations along the festival circuit, as well as becoming a Vimeo Staff Pick. As an actor, he is a Gemini Award (now called Canadian Screen Award) winner, CSA Best Lead Performer (Digital Series), and multi–ACTRA Award nominee. Currently in development is the feature film The Section based on the short work TEF, which Mengesha wrote and starred in during his residency at the Canadian Film Centre.

Shasha Nakhai is a Toronto-based storyteller with more than a decade of experience. Her work has aired on the BBC, CBC, ZDF, and Arte; screened at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA); been nominated for 16 Canadian Screen Awards; named as part of TIFF’s Canada’s Top Ten; and shortlisted for an Oscar.

CHANGEMAKER AWARD

The Changemaker Award is presented to a feature film in Official Selection that explores issues relevant to young people and is focused on themes of social change and youth empowerment. The award embraces the power in young people seeing their communities represented on screen and celebrates the next generation of storytellers and changemakers in cinema. The winning film is selected by TIFF’s Next Wave Committee, a group of young film lovers who recognize cinema’s power to transform the world. All Next Wave–selected films in Official Selection are eligible, and the winning director(s) receives $10,000 CAD. In 2022, the Changemaker Award went to Luis De Filippis’ Something You Said Last Night.

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD

A longstanding tradition at TIFF, the People’s Choice Award is celebrating its 46th year, and TIFF audience members are encouraged to vote for their favourite films online at tiff.net/vote. All feature films in TIFF’s Official Selection are eligible for this Award. TIFF has two other Awards also voted on by the audience: the People’s Choice Documentary Award and the People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award. The 2022 winners are The Fabelmans, Black Ice, and Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.

FIPRESCI JURY

The FIPRESCI Prize is presented by an international jury selected by the International Federation of Film Critics. Founded in 1930, the Federation awards the prize at international film festivals and film festivals of particular importance 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 for the 30th year, to one feature film having its World Premiere in TIFF’s Discovery programme. Last year’s winner was A Gaza Weekend. The 2023 FIPRESCI jurors are:

Cem Altinsaray is a film critic with 28 years of experience in writing, editing, creating, and publishing movie magazines. He is now focused on enjoying and spreading his love of cinema at MUBI.

Elijah Baron is a Montreal-based film critic, translator, and editor, mostly known for his affiliation with 24 images, one of Quebec’s leading and oldest French-language film magazines.

Jindřiška Bláhová is a film critic and film industry analyst for the leading Czech weekly Respekt, an editor-in-chief of the film magazine Cinepur, and a film historian.

Diego Faraone is a Uruguayan film critic and journalist. He collaborated in publications such as Dossier, El Boulevard, Guía 50, and Argentinian websites Revista Caligari and Otros Cines, among others.

Jenni Zylka is a freelance writer focusing on film, media, and music. She is head of the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section of the Berlinale.

NETPAC JURY

Presented by the Network for the Promotion of Asian Pacific Cinema, the NETPAC Award recognizes films specifically from the Asian and Pacific region. The jury consists of three members of the international community selected by TIFF and NETPAC, who award the prize to the best film by an emerging Asian and/or Pacific Islander filmmaker in the Centrepiece and Discovery programmes. In 2022, the NETPAC Award went to Sweet As. The 2023 NETPAC Award jurors are:

Sung Moon, 2023 NETPAC Jury Chair, is a programmer at the Jeonju International Film Festival.

Haolun Shu is a Shanghai-based filmmaker and teaches film directing and screenwriting at Shanghai Film Academy.

Lalita Krishna is the Co-Chair of Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. She is a critically acclaimed documentary filmmaker.

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#TIFF23

The Toronto International Film Festival takes place September 7–17, 2023.

TIFF will respect SAG-AFTRA protocols regarding the participation of its members at the Festival.

For more information, contact Alejandra Sosa, Director, Communications at masosa@tiff.net

Courtesy tiff 2023

Synopsis:

A rich, spoilt, and debonair young mid-level banking manager has a woman problem, which makes him only see them from the sexual angle. He and his delectable female cousin who is a nurse find love with each other. His cousin’s fiancé, a senior police officer suffers abandonment from her on account of her intense attachment to her cousin. When he finds out why his fiancée is not always available to him whenever he wants her, the police officer will put an unthinkable mechanism in place to punish them without laying a finger on, or raising a voice against his beloved fiancée, but he did not see the possibilities that will follow as both cousins join forces to fight him in what becomes a fierce and famous legal battle in court.

OFFICIAL TRAILER

KEY CAST:

DIRECTOR BIOGRAPHY – OSEZUAH ANTHONY ELIMIHE

Osezuah Anthony Elimihe is a Nigerian whose parents are from Edo State, Midwestern Nigeria. He is graduate of English and Literature from the prestigious University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria. Post-graduation, Osezuah having chosen the motion picture business as his career path, began work with DBN TV, and later moved to the African Children Broadcasting Network, Nigeria Chapter, before landed a job at Media International Ltd where he honed his skills in writing and directing. He will later join the then Rosabel Leo Burnett as agency producer in 2022.

With few awards in his kitty like *Agency Man if the Year*, *Management Man of the Year*, and some LAIF Awards for some of his TV commercials for Coca-Cola Nigeria and UBA, he would later resign in 2010 to continue “the real reason” he came to Lagos-to produce movies. His first few attempts met with some shocks though laced with some light as his first movie *First Cause* had multiple nominations, and one of which was  in the *Movie of the Year* category in Best of Nollywood Awards, and his next MANIAC only went as far as being screened at the 2016 Eko International Film Festival.

With an additional background in Mind Management acquired from bespoke courses from the Celebrity Centre, Franklin, Hollywood, Los Angeles between 2014 and 2020, Osezuah understands what it means to organize his energy for good by editing his thoughts and feelings.

PICS FROM THE MOVIE PREMIERE

Over the years the James bond role have been played by

Sean Connery (1962–1967, 1971, 1983)

David Niven (1967)

George Lazenby (1969)

Roger Moore (1973–1985)

Timothy Dalton (1987–1989)

Pierce Brosnan (1995–2002)

Daniel Craig (2006–2021).

James Bond director Martin Campbell has said he doesn’t think the next 007 will be Black or female.

With Daniel Craig having vacated the role of the suave spy after five films, there has been much talk about who the next Bond will be.

Fans have got plenty of ideas, with Luther star Idris Elba, Venom’s Tom Hardy, The Women King’s Lashana Lynch and Sex Education’s Gillian Anderson all coming up.

However, Campbell – who was at the helm of 1995’s Golden Eye and 2006’s Casino Royale – has said he thinks Bond bosses will stick to writer Ian Fleming’s vision of the character.

Asked if the agent could be Black or a woman, he told Express.co.uk: “Honestly, it’s not going to happen. None of (those suggestions will) because that’s the way the books are set up, that’s the way Fleming wrote them.

“And of course, there’s all this everyone screaming diversity, ‘Time to have a Black Bond’, ‘What about a female Bond?’ The answer would be no. I don’t think it’ll happen for a second.”

Campbell said while a Black actor or female could certainly slip into the tux, his feeling was “that they will want to keep the brand as is”.

Courtesy Supple Magazine

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Academy’s Board of Governors has approved new requirements to broaden the public theatrical exhibition criteria for Oscars® eligibility in the Best Picture category starting with the 97th Academy Awards®, for films released in 2024.

Upon completion of an initial qualifying run, currently defined as a one-week theatrical release in one of the six U.S. qualifying cities, a film must meet the following additional theatrical standards for Best Picture eligibility:

• Expanded theatrical run of seven days, consecutive or non-consecutive, in 10 of the top 50 U.S. markets, no later than 45 days after the initial release in 2024.

• For late-in-the-year films with expansions after January 10, 2025, distributors must submit release plans to the Academy for verification.

• Release plans for late-in-the-year films must include a planned expanded theatrical run, as described above, to be completed no later than January 24, 2025.

• Non-U.S. territory releases can count towards two of the 10 markets.

• Qualifying non-U.S. markets include the top 15 international theatrical markets plus the home territory for the film.

“As we do every year, we have been reviewing and assessing our theatrical eligibility requirements for the Oscars,” said Academy CEO Bill Kramer and Academy President Janet Yang.  “In support of our mission to celebrate and honor the arts and sciences of moviemaking, it is our hope that this expanded theatrical footprint will increase the visibility of films worldwide and encourage audiences to experience our artform in a theatrical setting.  Based on many conversations with industry partners, we feel that this evolution benefits film artists and movie lovers alike.”

Eligibility for achievements in the various discipline categories will not be impacted by this requirement.

For information on awards rules, visit oscars.org/rules.

Severtson Screens, a global leader in innovative and quality projection screens for the home theater, commercial, pro AV, and cinema markets, has been unveiled as the official SCREEN partner for the 1st Lagos International Film and Cinema Convention, LIFACC 2023.

Mr. Theophilus Akatugba, the Founder of LIFACC and CEO of OVUETA, organizers of the event announced this in a statement released Friday 9th June 2023.
According to him, all the screens to be mounted during the convention, which is billed to hold from July 20th to 22nd, at the Radisson Blu, Ikeja, Lagos, will be supplied by the United States-based global leader in projection screen technology.

Also, Dan Maxwell the Vice President of the company is expected to make a special presentation at the convention. Besides, the company will display some of its latest technological breakthroughs.
Founded in 1986, Severtson Corporation is a member of the International Cinema Technology Association. The company continues to be a global leader in innovation and quality.

Severtson will be at LIFACC 2023 with a showcase of its massive production capabilities and an unusually wide array of screens. The screens range in size from massive movie theaters to comfortable home theaters, and everything in between. Meanwhile, partnering with the organizers of LIFACC 2023, will not only expand the market for the company, but also, it will allow African filmmakers and cinema owners to experience a diversity of technological breakthroughs that will help them to improve the quality of their cinema patrons’ experience.

Courtesy Supple Magazine 

The Silverbird Group has agreed to partner with the organizers of the forthcoming Lagos International Film and Convention 2023, to make the world-class event a huge success.

This cheery news was disclosed by the Chairman of the Group, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce on Tuesday, June 6th, 2023 when Mr Theophilus Akatugba, Founder and CEO of LIFACC paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Lagos.
According to Mr. Akatugba, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce will be delivering the Keynote address during the opening ceremony of LIFACC on the 20th of July 2023, at the Radisson Blu Ikeja, Lagos.

Senator Bruce, who was very excited by the concept and preparation for the Maiden Edition of LIFACC, pledged his full support for the event while commending Ovueta Nigeria Limited, the organizers of LIFACC for their vision to create a platform where stakeholders can come together to interact, network and chart a new direction for the motion picture industry in Nigeria and Africa.
Speaking further, Senator Murray- Bruce stated that while the convention lasts, participants will have the rare opportunity to have first-hand knowledge of Silverbird Cinemas and Film Distribution’s new business policies as they visit its stand.

The Silverbird Group, which has a long history in the Nigerian media and entertainment sector will bring its cinema exhibition and distribution pioneering position coupled with its experience operating across Africa and the rest of the continent, as well as its studio facilities and network to bear at the convention.
Established in 1980, Ben Murray-Bruce’s Silverbird Group through its Silverbird Galleria which was founded in 2004, revolutionized the cinema culture in Nigeria. The Galleria pioneered the first five-screen Cineplex in sub-Saharan Africa.
Silverbird Cinemas also to date owns the largest cinema chain in West Africa with several locations in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Uyo, and Ghana. More locations are still springing up in some parts of Nigeria.

Recall that before the advent of Silverbird Galleria, movie enthusiasts were left with no option other than resorting to the local content on terrestrial TV stations and PayTV platforms. Then, the movies came in the form of VCDs and later, when DVDs were introduced, producers began to move with the trend, churning out several movies in the video format. But today, with the return of the cinema culture in Nigeria, and Africa at large as pioneered by Ben Murray Bruce’s Silverbird Cinemas, several producers have seemingly found a way of evading the menace of pirates by taking their movies for public viewing.

Not only that, many cinema houses have sprung up in different nooks and crannies of society as the demand keeps growing. Some of them include cinema giants like IMAX, FilmHouse, Genesis Deluxe, Viva Cinema, Ozone Cinemas, and Octopus Cinema to mention but a few. All courtesy to Bruce’s vision.
The organizers of LIFACC are proud to announce Silverbird Group as Partner for this inaugural edition.

Courtesy Supple Magazine