'Leonor Will Never Die' wins special award at Toronto International Film Festival

“Leonor Will Never Die” just got another award under its belt, this time from the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

TIFF honored the film with the Amplify Voices Award, a special prize given to three films each year. One award is for Canadian films, whereas the other two are for international films directed by a person of color.

“This is too surreal,” director and writer Martika Ramirez Escobar said in her speech.

“So when we were making this film a few years ago, we never expected to even get this far. All we wanted was to screen our tiny film in a cinema and we got more than that," she added.

Escobar thanked the whole TIFF team for giving “Leonor Will Never Die” a chance and for taking care of their cast and crew.

“I just want to share that we had our first screening last night and it was truly special because we felt that cinema is very much alive with how people were in the cinema,” Escobar said.

“This really means a lot and it’s also the cash prize, like [it’s] also funding for our film because we struggled so much,” the director said. “Most of the people in the film are friends and family and it’s really a labor of love and friendship so it means a lot," she added.

“Leonor Will Never Die” is a psychological comedy-drama that follows a former filmmaker named Leonor, who after an accident that sends her into a coma, is transported into her unfinished film.

The film also won the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Award: Innovative Spirit at the Sundance Film Festival, and opened the 2022 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival when it returned to the Cultural Center of the Philippines. —Nika Roque/JCB, GMA News