At the closing ceremony of the 18th edition of the TorinoFilmLab Meeting Event, twenty-one awards were presented— the highest number to date in an edition that also broke attendance records. After three days packed with meetings and project presentations —bringing together 400 audiovisual professionals from 41 countries, with 48 film and series projects showcased and more than 890 one-to-one meetings held in just nine hours— many of the 113 screenwriters, directors and producers who had spent the past year working under TFL mentorship saw their efforts rewarded with financial support and new opportunities for international collaboration. During the ceremony, the TFL Co-Production Fund was also officially awarded. The €50,000 fund, backed by the Creative Europe MEDIA programme, went to 9 Temples to Heaven by Thai filmmaker Sompot Chidgasornpongse, produced by Kick the Machine Films in co-production with E&W Films (Singapore) and Petit Chaos (France).

One of the four TFL Production Awards —each worth €50,000 and aimed at FeatureLab projects— was given to the Dominican project La Canícula, by Rod Llaverías. The story follows Ciro, a middle-aged man tied to his childhood home whose fragile routine is disrupted by his aunt’s return and the arrival of a young treasure hunter, pushing him to confront long-suppressed desires and family tensions.

The other three production awards went to: Lucky Girl (France/Senegal), by Linda Lô, about a young African girl who invents inner alter egos to cope with reality and fulfil her mother’s aspirations; The Passions of Angela Simmons (United States), by Lucy Kerr, centred on a grieving former dancer searching for transcendence through the rituals of her imminent debutante ball; and Three Ages (Spain), by Jiajie Yu Yan, about a seven-year-old Chinese boy reuniting with his parents in Barcelona.

Regarding the SeriesLab development awards, the jury —Mignon Huisman, Sophie Taylor-Gooby and Iñigo Trojaola— granted two €10,000 prizes to Connection Lost (Italy/Germany), by Maja Costa, a Cold War–era thriller in which Adriano Olivetti’s brilliant daughter becomes entangled in an international conspiracy; and Madre Mia (Peru/Spain), by Emmanuelle Kesch and Mauricio Cuffaro, where a beautician joins forces with a frustrated writer to find her missing son. The jury also gave a Special Mention to the animated series project Buffalo Johansson (Belgium/Netherlands), by Lars Damoiseaux.

The €10,000 ComedyLab Award went to A Summer Tale (Germany), by Berthold Wahjudi, which follows the rivalry between two German-Indonesian teenagers competing for the unofficial title of “funniest Asian kid” in their class.

The ceremony also announced the winners of the Alumni Grant, a special award created for TFL’s 18th anniversary to support filmmakers who have previously participated in TorinoFilmLab programmes. The recipients were Nightsong (Brazil/France), by Maya Da-Rin, who earlier took part in TFL with The Fever; and Soon We Will All Be History Here (United Kingdom/Palestine/Malta), by Saeed Taji Farouky, a project he developed during ScriptLab 2021.

Among the partner-awarded recognitions, the Eurimages Co-Production Development Prize (€20,000), aimed at encouraging international co-productions, was granted by jurors Carole Baraton, Emma Scott and Radu Stancu to History of Illness (Croatia), by David Gašo —a ScriptLab project in which the protagonist’s attempt to understand his tic leads him into a surreal experience inside a hospital undergoing renovation.

Finally, a separate jury —Alejandro Arenas Azorín, Ava Cahen and Urte Fink— awarded the CNC Prize, worth €8,000 and funded by France’s National Film Centre, to Chosen City (Argentina), by María Belén Poncio, and gave a Special Mention to Hold Still (United Kingdom/Chile), by Shalini Adnani.

TFL Production Awards

• La Canícula – Rod Llaverías (República Dominicana)
  Productora: Wendy Espinal (Centuria)

• Lucky Girl – Linda Lô (Francia/Senegal)
  Productora: Didar Domehri (Maneki Films)

• The Passions of Angela Simmons – Lucy Kerr (Estados Unidos)
  Productora: Megan Pickrell (Conjuring Productions)

• Three Ages – Jiajie Yu Yan (España)
  Productor: César Esteban Alenda (Solita Films)

SeriesLab Development Awards

• Connection Lost (Italia/Alemania)
  Creadores: Maja Costa, Melina Voss

• Madre Mia (Perú/España)
  Creadores: Emmanuelle Kesch, Mauricio Cuffaro
  Productor: Francisco Carrasco

SeriesLab Special Mention

• Buffalo Johansson (Bélgica/Países Bajos)
  Creador: Lars Damoiseaux
  Productor: David Vermander

ComedyLab Award

• A Summer Tale – Berthold Wahjudi (Alemania)

Alumni Grant Award

• Nightsong – Maya Da-Rin (Brasil/Francia)
  Productora: Juliette Lepoutre (Still Moving)

• Soon We Will All Be History Here – Saeed Taji Farouky (Reino Unido/Palestina/Malta)
  Productora: Maria Caruana Galizia

TFL Co-Production Fund

• 9 Temples to Heaven – Sompot Chidgasornpongse (Tailandia/Singapur/Francia)
  Productores: Kick the Machine Films (Kissada Kamyoung, Apichatpong Weerasethakul), E&W Films, Petit Chaos

Partner Awards

Eurimages Co-Production Development Award

• History of Illness – David Gašo (Croacia)

CNC Award

• Chosen City – María Belén Poncio (Argentina)
  Mención Especial: Hold Still – Shalini Adnani (Reino Unido/Chile)

ArteKino International Award

• Black Hairy Beast – Anna Hints y Tushar Prakash (Estonia/India)

Sub-Ti Award

• Culebra Cut – Ana Elena Tejera y Tomás Cortés (Panamá)

Sub-Ti Access Award

• The Passions of Angela Simmons – Lucy Kerr

IEFTA Award

• Hold Me (If You Want) – Mounia Akl (Líbano)

Post-Production Award

• Cold Ashes Can Cause Forest Fires – Ashmita Guha Neog (India/Francia)

Green Awards

TFL White Mirror

• Grasshopper – Micah Magee (Dinamarca/Estados Unidos)

Green Filming Awards

• Women Walking – Kerren Lumer-Klabbers (Dinamarca/Noruega)

• To Leave, To Stay – Danech San (Camboya/Estados Unidos/Italia)

• Lucky Girl – Linda Lô