TAF awards offer a financial reward to winning filmmakers, along with a one-of-a-kind trophy designed by Habiba El-Sayed, a ceramic artist in Toronto. Habiba designed the award to incorporate traditional motifs and more modern aesthetics, landing on “traditional mashrabihya, which are Islamic privacy screens, using a wood finish and incorporating that with a more sleek look of mirror. In this case, the mirror represents the way filmmakers are reflected in the works they create, and the way they reflect the experiences of the world around them.”
Nakheel Jury Award for Best Feature Film
Winner: Mediterranean Fever//حمى البحر المتوسط
Country: Palestine, France, Germany, Qatar, Cyprus
Director: Maha Haj
Length: 108 mins
Synopsis: Waleed develops a close relationship with his neighbor, a small-time crook with an ulterior plot in mind that leads them into a journey of dark encounters.
Honourable Mention: The Lebanese Burger Mafia//مافيا البرجر اللبنانية
Country: Canada, Lebanon
Director: Omar Mouallem
Length: 103 mins
Synopsis: The meaty saga of a rogue fast- food chain with mysterious origins, a cult following, and a secret pathway to the immigrant dream.
Jury
Farah Sadek is an Egyptian journalist and interviewer based in Cairo, with a BA in Mass Communication and a major in journalism. She mainly loves writing about film, TV, and culture, especially with a focus on the MENA region. When she’s not doing that, she’s working on venturing into the film industry and developing her first script. You can find her and her works on Twitter and Instagram.
Johnny Dabeet is a seasoned filmmaker and the founder of Fluid Productions, a production company based in Amman, Jordan, that has made a significant mark on the industry over the past 19 years. Johnny’s innovative approach to production and his unwavering commitment to quality have been the foundation of his successful career. His creative leadership has spearheaded an array of content from commercial international projects, such as the Korean feature films The Point Men (2020) and Wonderland (2021), both shot in Jordan. One of his notable achievements is the popular YouTube comedy show Bath Bayakha, which successfully ran for three seasons. Inspired by the power of diverse narratives, Johnny strives to bring stories to life with authenticity and innovation. His personal philosophy revolves around the belief that filmmaking is not just a craft, but a powerful medium to inspire, challenge, and connect with audiences worldwide. Johnny is excited to be a part of the Toronto Film Festival jury and looks forward to contributing to the recognition of cinematic excellence.
Rua Wani is a producer and co-founder of Adani Pictures, a Toronto-based media production company. Adani’s mandate is to back storytellers and projects that provoke curiosity and engagement, centred in a belief that everyone’s story deserves to be seen. Adani’s slate of projects has won development financing from the Canada Media Fund, Ontario Creates, and the Bell Fund, and the company has been selected to the International Co-Production Market at EFM, the Canadian Creative Accelerator for Women in Film in New York and LA, the Canada-France Co-Production Lab at Series Mania, and CFC’s Fifth Wave Labs. Previously, Rua was a scripted TV development and production exec at Boat Rocker Media, where she worked on celebrated primetime dramas and comedies, including the Emmy-winning Orphan Black (BBC America, CTV Sci-Fi Channel). Rua is an alumnus of producer labs at Series Mania, EAVE, Reelworld, and BANFF Spark. She is also a film festival juror, speaker, and film and TV professor at Sheridan and George Brown Colleges. As a Kashmiri who has lived in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Indonesia, Canada, and the UK, Rua’s love of storytelling is rooted in discovering diverse realities.
Juthour Jury Award for Most Promising Filmmaker, Short Film
Winner: Kingdom of Strangers//مملكة الغرباء
Country: Egypt, United States
Director: Randa Ali
Length: 15 mins
Synopsis: On the Pacific coast of Los Angeles, Ali and Yaffa struggle to remember the Arab Mediterranean cities they have left behind.
Honourable Mention: Killing Bagheera//بطلان
Country: Germany
Director: Muschirf Shekh Zeyn
Length: 13 mins
Synopsis: Alan and Bekes are refugees and want to enter Europe. This simple premise forms the narrative for a claustrophobic and intense drama surrounding friendship, courage, dreams and how the other half life.
Jury
Aliaa Khachouk is a Syrian-Canadian director and producer with over 25 years of experience in the production of short and feature-length films, as well as documentaries. Her work expresses a deep interest in immigrant identities and sense of belonging. Her films have been screened at several national and international festivals including the Montréal World Film Festival, Les Rendez-vous du Cinéma Québécois, Cannes film festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Harvard MISA Festival, and several others. Her feature film I Was Once Told is part of the Library and Archives Canada. She holds a master’s degree in communication (experimental media) from UQAM in Montreal. Her thesis Hotel Canada was on identity and the sense of belonging to Arab emigrants in Canada.
Amin Alsaden is an independent curator, writer, and educator whose work focuses on transnational solidarities and exchanges across cultural boundaries. His scholarship explores the history and theory of modern and contemporary art and architecture globally, with specific expertise in the Arab-Muslim world and its diasporas. Alsaden’s research is often an inquiry into anti-colonial discourses and creative resistance cultures, those developed in the non-West, as well as those pioneered by Indigenous and racialized communities in the West. He has taught at several institutions, at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, and regularly serves as an invited lecturer and critic at art, curatorial, and design programs.
Jude Abu Zaineh is a Palestinian-Canadian interdisciplinary artist and cultural worker. Her practice employs art, food, and technology to investigate meanings of culture, displacement, diaspora, and belonging. She examines ideals of home and community while working to develop aesthetics rooted in her childhood and upbringing in the Middle East. Abu Zaineh is the recipient of the 2020 William and Meredith Saunderson Prizes for Emerging Artists, and was one of the first selected artists to participate in a collaborative residency with the Ontario Science Centre and MOCA Toronto. She has presented her work at a number of cultural institutions, including Cultivamos Cultura, São Luis, Portugal; Museu de Arte, Arquitetura e Tecnologia, Lisbon, Portugal; Centro de Cultura Digital, Mexico City, Mexico; SVA, NYC, USA; Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco, USA; Forest City Gallery, London, Canada; Art Gallery of Windsor, Canada; 2023 Ireland Glass Biennale; Museum of Glass, Washington, USA; and Centre Culturel Canadien, Paris, France. Forthcoming works showing at Museum London x Media City Film Festival, London, Canada; and Artcite, Windsor, Canada. Abu Zaineh received an MFA from the University of Windsor, and is currently a PhD Candidate in Electronic Arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as a RPI HASS Fellow and SSHRC Doctoral Fellow. She maintains an active studio practice between upstate NY, USA, and Windsor-Essex, Canada
Riaz Mehmood is a multidisciplinary artist who uses video, photography, and computer programming as his primary means of expression. His practice often visits themes of multiple and fluid identities, geographical, psychological, and cultural displacement, magic realism, and the development of knowledge. His ancestral home is a small village located between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Mehmood immigrated to Canada in 2000 as a professional engineer and decided to pursue a career in the arts. Mehmood holds an MFA from the University of Windsor (2012) and completed the Integrated Media program at the Ontario College of Art and Design (2005). He has participated in several international and national artist residencies and workshops, and has earned numerous grants, scholarships, and awards over the years. Mehmood has also been involved with several artist-run centres, and served on the boards of SAVAC (Toronto) and articule (Montréal). He is currently on the Board of Directors of Latitude 53. His works have been shown nationally and internationally, including most recently at the Art Gallery of Alberta in the solo exhibition Ghazal—Songs for Home.
Qayqub Jury Award for Best Canadian Short Film
Winner: Simo
Country: Canada
Director: Aziz Zoromba
Length: 23 mins
Synopsis: The usual rivalries and jealousies that exist between the two teenage brothers Simo and Emad take a dangerous turn that may seriously impact the future of their family.
Honourable Mention: Leila and the Cigarette//ليلى و السيجارة
Country: Canada, Lebanon
Director: Leah Manasseh
Length: 15 mins
Synopsis: In 2011, Leah decided to go to Lebanon to film with her grandmother. Two weeks after the shoot, her grandmother died of metastatic lung cancer. It took her 12 years to get the courage to revisit their last conversations.
Jury
Aliaa Khachouk is a Syrian-Canadian director and producer with over 25 years of experience in the production of short and feature-length films, as well as documentaries. Her work expresses a deep interest in immigrant identities and sense of belonging. Her films have been screened at several national and international festivals including the Montréal World Film Festival, Les Rendez-vous du Cinéma Québécois, Cannes film festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Harvard MISA Festival, and several others. Her feature film I Was Once Told is part of the Library and Archives Canada. She holds a master’s degree in communication (experimental media) from UQAM in Montreal. Her thesis Hotel Canada was on identity and the sense of belonging to Arab emigrants in Canada.
Amin Alsaden is an independent curator, writer, and educator whose work focuses on transnational solidarities and exchanges across cultural boundaries. His scholarship explores the history and theory of modern and contemporary art and architecture globally, with specific expertise in the Arab-Muslim world and its diasporas. Alsaden’s research is often an inquiry into anti-colonial discourses and creative resistance cultures, those developed in the non-West, as well as those pioneered by Indigenous and racialized communities in the West. He has taught at several institutions, at both the graduate and undergraduate levels, and regularly serves as an invited lecturer and critic at art, curatorial, and design programs.
Jude Abu Zaineh is a Palestinian-Canadian interdisciplinary artist and cultural worker. Her practice employs art, food, and technology to investigate meanings of culture, displacement, diaspora, and belonging. She examines ideals of home and community while working to develop aesthetics rooted in her childhood and upbringing in the Middle East. Abu Zaineh is the recipient of the 2020 William and Meredith Saunderson Prizes for Emerging Artists, and was one of the first selected artists to participate in a collaborative residency with the Ontario Science Centre and MOCA Toronto. She has presented her work at a number of cultural institutions, including Cultivamos Cultura, São Luis, Portugal; Museu de Arte, Arquitetura e Tecnologia, Lisbon, Portugal; Centro de Cultura Digital, Mexico City, Mexico; SVA, NYC, USA; Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco, USA; Forest City Gallery, London, Canada; Art Gallery of Windsor, Canada; 2023 Ireland Glass Biennale; Museum of Glass, Washington, USA; and Centre Culturel Canadien, Paris, France. Forthcoming works showing at Museum London x Media City Film Festival, London, Canada; and Artcite, Windsor, Canada. Abu Zaineh received an MFA from the University of Windsor, and is currently a PhD Candidate in Electronic Arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as a RPI HASS Fellow and SSHRC Doctoral Fellow. She maintains an active studio practice between upstate NY, USA, and Windsor-Essex, Canada
Riaz Mehmood is a multidisciplinary artist who uses video, photography, and computer programming as his primary means of expression. His practice often visits themes of multiple and fluid identities, geographical, psychological, and cultural displacement, magic realism, and the development of knowledge. His ancestral home is a small village located between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Mehmood immigrated to Canada in 2000 as a professional engineer and decided to pursue a career in the arts. Mehmood holds an MFA from the University of Windsor (2012) and completed the Integrated Media program at the Ontario College of Art and Design (2005). He has participated in several international and national artist residencies and workshops, and has earned numerous grants, scholarships, and awards over the years. Mehmood has also been involved with several artist-run centres, and served on the boards of SAVAC (Toronto) and articule (Montréal). He is currently on the Board of Directors of Latitude 53. His works have been shown nationally and internationally, including most recently at the Art Gallery of Alberta in the solo exhibition Ghazal—Songs for Home.
Yamama Audience Choice Award for Best Short Film
Winner: Leila and the Cigarette//ليلى و السيجارة
Country: Canada, Lebanon
Director: Leah Manasseh
Length: 15 mins
Synopsis: In 2011, Leah decided to go to Lebanon to film with her grandmother. Two weeks after the shoot, her grandmother died of metastatic lung cancer. It took her 12 years to get the courage to revisit their last conversations.
Honourable Mention: Simo
Country: Canada
Director: Aziz Zoromba
Length: 23 mins
Synopsis: The usual rivalries and jealousies that exist between the two teenage brothers Simo and Emad take a dangerous turn that may seriously impact the future of their family.