Sneak Peek attended the 5th annual Toronto Urban Film Festival (TUFF) Awards September 18, 2011 @ Toronto's The Drake Hotel on Queen Street West.
TUFF runs annually on the Onestop network of digital platform screens located in subway stations across the Toronto Transit System, with the festival bringing silent, 1-minute films to a daily audience of over 1 million commuters.
This year’s prizes included over $20,000 in cash and in-kind products/services from the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival, Earth Day Canada, Planet in Focus, Rattail Films, Shopper’s Drug Mart, Sony Creative Software, STASH Magazine, Toon Boom Animation, Toronto Film Scene, Videoscope, Witz Education and Women in Film & Television Toronto.Top awards selected by guest judge Atom Egoyan were presented to Jackie English for her film "Nimby", Sam Lalonde for "Whelm" and Che Kothari for "Flip Hop: che kothari x elicser x skam".
A cash prize of $2,500 went to Richard B. Pierre, recipient of this year's Naish McHugh Award for Emerging Toronto Filmmakers, for "Fresh Start", presented by Michael Thompson, Chair of the Economic Development Committee of The City of Toronto.
Honorable mentions went to Alison Davis for the animation "Courtship" and Su Tomesen for the split-screen video "Dwelling". Other winners, chosen by jury members Angie Driscoll (CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival) and Guillermina Buzio (Planet in Focus), included :
* Best Animation - "Mirroring Reality" by Martynas Genkovas
* Honorable Mention for Animation - "Cutters' by Ahmet Serif Yildirim
* Best Canadian Environmental Film - "Relics" by Chris Juraschka
* Most Ambitious Film by a Local Female Director - "Woodland' by Claire Bennett
* Toronto Lens Award - "Little White Corvette" by Shane Azam and Alex Bowron
* Poetic Toronto Award - "In These Streets" by Lila Karim and Michael Barry
* Jury Prize for Documentary - "Shoeshop" by Mai Phuong Pham and Ha Thanh Phung
* Jury Prize for Narrative - "What if..." by Autumn Schrock
* Jury Prize for Experimental Film - "Amoré' by Juli Saragosa
The Best Local Film Award was given to Terry O’Neill and Tara Cooper for "Haircut".
The most popular film of the festival, as determined by online votes, was "In Bubble Trouble", directed by Iain Lew Kee.
"Being around this much talent is inspiring," said TUFF Executive Director, Sharon Switzer. "I love being able to celebrate our 1-minute filmmakers".
Films can be viewed online throughout the year at torontourbanfilmfestival.com
TUFF is co-produced by Art for Commuters and Onestop Media Group, and funded by the Canada Council for the Arts.Click the images to enlarge...
