2019 TIFF: ‘Martin Eden’ wins Platform Prize; ‘Murmur,’ ‘How to Build a Girl’ win FIPRESCI

Kazik Radwanski’s Anne at 13,000 ft and Alice Winocour’s Proxima receive honorable mentions

Today the Toronto International Film Festival announced the winner of the 2019 Toronto Platform Prize at a reception at the Bisha Hotel, hosted by Joana Vicente, TIFF’s Executive Director and Co-Head. Pietro Marcello’s Martin Eden was chosen as the winner of the $20,000 CAD prize by the jury, which is comprised of award-winning filmmaker Athina Rachel Tsangari, Berlinale Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian, and international film critic Jessica Kiang.

“Our main prize goes to a thrilling and eloquent work of art that we agreed on unanimously and instantaneously,” said the jury. “A politically and philosophically provocative story told with extraordinary cinematic invention and grace, this film reaffirms a faith that is easy to lose in 2019: that the cinema we know is an iceberg with nine-tenths still remaining to be discovered. This is a classic story told in a novel manner that dips below the surface to find highly unconventional, often archival modes of expression that are irreverent and anachronistic and yet that honour and participate in the history of cinema.”

Additionally, the jury awarded two honourable mentions. One of the recipients is Kazik Radwanski’s Anne at 13,000 ft, which the jury highlighted as “a film that creates a horror-movie level of buzzing tension out of a mercilessly close-up, yet deeply compassionate portrait of an unstable young woman, brought unforgettably to life in Deragh Campbell’s riveting central performance.”

The other honourable mention was awarded to Alice Winocour’s Proxima, which the jury considered “a beautifully down-to-earth, procedural approach to a story about the lure of space vying with the bonds of home, that is for once told from the point of view of a woman who does not apologize for finding as much joy in her vocation as in her family.”

TIFF presents a free screening of Toronto Platform Prize winner Martin Eden at TIFF Bell Lightbox on Sunday, September 15 at 12:15pm. Tickets to this free screening will be available online, by phone, and in person starting September 15 at 10am. This screening is Rush eligible.

Named after Jia Zhang-ke’s trailblazing second feature, Platform is the Toronto International Film Festival’s competitive programme championing bold directorial visions. The programme includes up to 12 films and aims to spotlight these outstanding works within the Festival.

Now in its fifth year, Platform is curated by TIFF Artistic Director and Co-Head Cameron Bailey and Co-Curator Andréa Picard, who is also Lead Curator for the Wavelengths programme. Platform’s Selection Committee is composed of TIFF Cinematheque Director Brad Deane; Ming-Jenn Lim, Senior Manager of Theatrical Programming at TIFF Bell Lightbox; and Lydia Ogwang, TIFF Cinematheque Coordinator and Associate Programmer.

TIFF will announce further Festival award winners, including the Grolsch People’s Choice Award, on Sunday, September 15.

The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Jury announced this year’s prize winners at a reception at the Bisha Hotel, hosted by Joana Vicente, Executive Director and Co-Head of TIFF. The jury, now in its 28th year at the Festival, is comprised of Jury President Rita di Santo (UK), Frédéric Jaeger (Germany), Liam Lacey (Canada), Ruben Peralta Rigaud (Dominican Republic), Müge Turan (Turkey), and Claire Valade (Canada).

The FIPRESCI Prize for the Discovery programme is awarded to Heather Young for Murmur, which the jury selected “for its impressive, minimalist, and precise storytelling — both in its structure and its use of static camerawork and framing — and for its empathetic and powerful simplicity in deconstructing the effects of an
addictive personality.”

The FIPRESCI Prize for the Special Presentations programme is awarded to Coky Giedroyc for How to Build a Girl. “Led by a performance by Beanie Feldstein, our winning film is a witty and heartfelt story of an irrepressible teenage girl who breaks into the snooty boys’ club of English rock criticism, loses her soul, and then gains it back again. Congratulations to How to Build a Girl,” said the jury.

TIFF will announce further Festival award winners, including the Grolsch People’s Choice Award, on Sunday, September 15.