TIFF's Platform Prize Now Opens to the International Feature Oscar
Summary
Pablo Trapero leads the jury for the $20,000 CAD award, one of six festival prizes that now qualify films directly, with winners announced Sunday
The winner of TIFF's Platform Award now has a direct path to consideration for the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film under the Academy's new rules for the 99th Oscars. The prize, worth $20,000 CAD, goes to the best film in the Platform program and is chosen by an in-person international jury led by filmmaker Pablo Trapero, whose feature films have all screened at TIFF since 1999 and who won Venice's Silver Lion for Best Director in 2015 for The Clan. TIFF expanded the Platform lineup and jury for 2026. All of the festival's awards, including the four audience-voted People's Choice Awards, will be announced at an in-person press conference, livestreamed globally, on the morning of Sunday, September 20, the festival's final day. Toronto joins Berlin, Busan, Cannes, Sundance and Venice as the six festivals whose designated top prizes carry the new qualifying route.