Women's voices in cinema

Highlighting the challenges, victories, and daily lives of women worldwide through independent films, the Toronto Women Film Festival is dedicated to supporting, recognizing, and empowering women's voices in cinema. It honors and celebrates films made by talented women filmmakers from across the globe. In recent years, the festival has showcased films by female directors at venues like Carlton Cinema, Innis Town Hall at the University of Toronto, various art centers, and digitally via the annual women's catalogue of the Toronto Film magazine. The festival conducts a seasonal competition, and hosts live annual screening events each September.

"Women's voices in cinema" is the seasonal program of the Toronto Women Film Festival aimed at amplifying female perspectives, stories, and creators. It challenges traditional narratives by showcasing women's experiences, often through female directors, writers, and producers. The program uses film as a tool for social change and features a variety of diverse voices.

Every season, the festival team nominates and selects films and artists for different sections of the seasonal competition, offering digital marketing, online promotions, and the chance to screen films in September through live events both in theatres and online. The festival focuses on stories driven by women and independent female directors, producers, writers, actresses, cinematographers, editors, and all female artists contributing to the cinematic language as women in film. Its goal is to discover, promote, screen, and award female filmmakers and stories about women in societies around the globe.

Recently, the Toronto Women Festival has become one of the most popular festivals dedicated to female talent in the film industry. The jury and programmers are chosen from award-winning artists working in media from Canada, the United States, Austria, Germany, Japan, Iran, India, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and across the globe.

Winter/2026 Winners:

Best Narrative Feature

Clearing

Director: Magdalena Ewa Pieta

Best Narrative Short

Diana the Huntress

Director: AYESHA FERNANDEZ

Best Feature Documentary

Four Verses of the Same Song

Director: Valerie Magnuson

Best Short Documentary

The Sky is Red and White

Director: Johanna Lecklin

Best Experimental

First Breath

Director: Hyojung Kim

Best Comedy

ONE-WAY TICKET

Director: Lorène THAUMASS

Best Science Fiction

Alienated

Director: Tamara Hernandez

Best Horror

You Know What You Are

Director: Rose Trimboli

Best Animation

Cottage Cheese

Directors: Liina Luomajoki, Lena Metzger, Janina Müller, Alice Kunz

Best Web/TV/Pilot

MILLENNIALS

Director: ludovica lirosi

Best Music Video

No More War

Director: Nauzanin Knight

Best Student Film

A Forever Kind of Thing

Director: Saylid Lopez

Best Actress

Lívia Gaudencio

Where are you now?

Best Cinematographer

Julia Maixer

Crianza

Best Scriptwriter

Beulah

Anonymous Writer

Best Producer

Kailey "Andy" Mclarty

KILLER THREADS

Best Director

Wei Qiu

THE FAMILY

Best Composer

Karine Pion

Héritières

Best LGBTQ

Buttercream

Directors: Lauren Bennett, Ruby Busuttil

Best Human Rights

My Lizochek

Director: Lyudmila Sadovnikova

Best Film About Women

The Silent Treatment

Director: Caroline Strubbe

Best Environmental

thayakam / motherland

Director: Amita Arudpragasam

Best First Time Filmmaker

Behind the Glass

Director: Olga Dinnikova

Best thriller

Mary Chris Max

Director: Tatiana Sokolova

Best Unproduced Script

The Common Man

BOBETTE BUSTER

Best Sport Film

Medicine Ball

Director: Leya Hale

Best Youth Artist

Madeline Burgin

Giving Seance