Palestinian drama ‘Gaza 13’ takes top NETPAC honors as the 51st edition of the Toronto International Film Festival wraps, solidifying key contenders for the upcoming awards season.
TORONTO — The 51st Toronto International Film Festival officially brought down the curtain on its 2026 edition, bestowing its coveted People’s Choice Award upon Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s ambitious Spanish drama La Bola Negra. The victory firmly places the film on the early Oscar tracking map, continuing TIFF’s long-standing reputation as a primary launching pad for major awards contenders.
Calvo and Ambrossi, who previously picked up the Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival, saw their multi-generational drama—a tapestry of memory, romance, music, and identity—resonate deeply with Toronto audiences. Peter Farrelly’s I Play Rocky finished as the first runner-up for the top prize, while Siân Heder’s Being Heumann took second runner-up.
In one of the festival’s most notable regional triumphs, Palestinian director Houssam Abou Dan’s narrative debut, Gaza 13 (Thirteen in Gaza), clinched the prestigious NETPAC Award (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema). Having made its world premiere in TIFF’s Centrepiece section, the film offers an intimate look at Raghad, a 13-year-old girl navigating adolescence in a Gaza displaced persons camp alongside her father after losing her home and family. Filmed entirely on location in Gaza using local talent, the drama eschews broad political tropes to focus on the human nuances of daily survival. The international recognition follows significant commercial momentum for the title during the festival, where Watermelon Pictures acquired its North American distribution rights.
In the festival’s juried competitions, the Platform Prize was awarded to Theja Rio’s Angh for its distinct auteur-driven vision, with Amanda Kernell’s Brace Your Heart receiving an honorable mention. Meanwhile, the International Federation of Film Critics presented its FIPRESCI Prize to emerging director David Turpin for Ancestors. In the International People’s Choice voting, Simon Stone’s Elsinore took top honors, followed by Lee Chang-dong’s Possible Love as first runner-up and Hur Jin-ho’s The Assassins as second runner-up.
TIFF also highlighted home-grown talent across its Canadian programming. Cerville Poblete’s Sunburn was named Best Canadian Feature Film, with an honorable mention going to Adrian Buitenhuis’s Man in Motion: The Rick Hansen Story. In the discovery sidebar, Cody Lightning’s Smudge the Blades took top honors as Best Canadian Discovery, while Yula Benivolski’s The Black Box Is Orange earned an honorable mention.
The festival’s Short Cuts sidebar showcased an array of international and domestic talent. Elia Kalogianni’s Mammalia won Best International Short, with Kaelo Ijoba’s The Spectacular Death of Prisca receiving an honorable mention. On the domestic front, Michael Del Monte’s Fight Kid secured Best Canadian Short, alongside an honorable mention for Justine Prince’s Almost Pink. In animation, Varun Raman and Tom Hancock’s Into the Betaverse captured the Best Animated Short award, with Alexander Sikerya’s The Terminal taking the honorable mention.
The 51st edition of TIFF underscored a dual trend in contemporary global cinema: audiences leaning into expansive, emotionally resonant storytelling like La Bola Negra, alongside an appetite for grassroots, high-urgency cinema from outside traditional production hubs, exemplified by Gaza 13. As the fall festival circuit transitions into full-fledged campaign season, Toronto’s key winners are set to dominate conversations across distributors and academy voters in the months ahead.
