Announcing the JIFF 2025 Audience Award winners!

Taking out the Audience Award for Best Feature is the exuberant French drama Once Upon My Mother.

You called it "the film of the festival", "heartwarming, funny and valuable", and "a film every mother will identify with and every father should learn from."

In second place is father-daughter comedy The Ring, with the Orthodox Jewish drama Pink Lady coming in third.

The Audience Award for Best Documentary goes to the urgent rescue story The Road Between Us. Barry Avrich's documentary had you "on the edge of [your] seat from beginning to end", describing it in your reviews as "gripping" and "a real life action thriller", with one JIFFgoer going so far as to call it "one of the best films I've ever seen in my life."

In second place is rich music doco TYCHO! Beyond the Baton, with third place going to the Frank Lowy story, To Be a Jew.

This year, we received an astounding 1,867 votes. Thank you so much for coming out to support the festival and for taking the time to vote for your favourites. The countdown to JIFF 2026 begins.