Acclaimed directors Claire Denis, Agnieszka Holland and Jia Zhangke will make up the three-person jury for the Toronto International Film Festival’s inaugural Platform category, a new program dedicated to championing “directors’ cinema” from around the world. They will bestow a $25,000 prize to the best film in that group at an awards ceremony on September 20, 2015.
“We have a long history with Zhang-ke, Claire and Agnieszka. They are master filmmakers with unique voices that we have championed throughout the years, both at the festival and in our year-round programming,” said Piers Handling, Director and CEO of TIFF. “We are honored to welcome them back to Toronto on our 40th anniversary as we celebrate our renewed commitment to artistically ambitious filmmaking with Platform.”
“Platform is our new home for original, personal filmmaking, and this is our dream jury,” added Cameron Bailey, TIFF’s Artistic Director. “We are thankful to these visionary filmmakers for making the time to join us this September. We can’t wait for the conversations they’ll have about the Platform films.”
This year’s TIFF will run September 10–20, 2015.