Three Student Films Dominate TFS FEST 2025, Hazardous Hardware Sweeps Gaming Awards

A trio of student short films dominated TFS FEST 2025, with The Man With the Iron Heart, Locked Cut, and The Appraiser claiming two Pinnacle Awards apiece at Toronto Film School’s annual celebration of student achievement, while Hazardous Hardware swept all three video game categories at the June 19 ceremony.

• Directed by Johana Abed with cinematography by her partner, Nicolas Marneris, The Man with the Iron Heart captured both the Best Picture and Best Cinematographer awards.
• Director Emma Logan’s Locked Cut proved an impressive showcase for emerging acting talent, with Andre Le’Neire earning Best Performance in a Male Role honours for his role in the film and Logan herself taking home the award for Best Performance in a Female Role.
• The Appraiser demonstrated the excellence of Camryn Anderson’s craft, as the film’s writer-director collected both the award for Best Screenplay and shared the Best Production Design award with Belinda Bijan.
• In the video game categories, Hazardous Hardware – an adrenaline-fueled isometric game set in a dystopian factory – swept all three awards: Video Game of the Year, Visual Excellence in a Video Game, and Video Game Technical Achievement.

Those four productions were among 45 student projects showcased at the TIFF Lightbox during the daylong TFS FEST event, including 25 short films, five documentaries, four video games, and three music videos, as well as works spanning motion graphics and live theatre. Selected from student submissions across Toronto Film School’s programs, the nominated works were screened over nearly six hours in front of a live audience, after which the celebratory event culminated in an evening awards ceremony, during which Pinnacle Awards were handed out in 18 different categories.

“Tonight, we celebrate our students and recent alumni who have done short films, video games, music videos, graphic art projects and live performances,” said TFS’s Director of Production Michaelangelo Masangkay, who acted as the award ceremony’s emcee.

“Each of tonight’s winners will receive an award that has been around for a long time – we affectionately call it the Pinnacle. The Pinnacle Award represents more than the title of winner, it symbolizes that student’s journey of accomplishment: from enrolling at Toronto Film School, to overcoming the steep slope of studying, to earning their diploma and being recognized by faculty and industry professionals for their achievements….So who will take home one of these prizes tonight?”

Here are some of the award highlights of the evening:

Best Picture

The top prize of the night, the Pinnacle Award for Best Picture, went to Class of 2024 Film Production grad Johana Abed’s The Man With the Iron Heart.

The 12-minute short, which was written and directed by Abed, follows a mother as she struggles to explain to her young daughter why her grandfather isn’t in their lives. Unable to find the right words for such a painful truth, she weaves their real story into a fantasy bedtime tale – casting her father’s unhealed trauma as a darkness that drove them apart.

Joined by several members of her cast and crew on stage – including her cinematographer boyfriend, Nicolas Marneris – Abed took to the mic to heap praise on all who helped her bring the inspiring story to life on the screen.

“This movie was made with so much love. Everyone who was involved, both cast and crew, gave their absolute best, so thank you. I love all of you guys,” she said, before sending long-distance thanks to her mom and aunt back in Mexico.

“Lastly, I also want to thank my boyfriend, because I wouldn’t have the trust I have in myself if it wasn’t for him, and I wouldn’t be as inspired as I am without him. I’m so happy to be a power couple with you.”

Best Director

The Pinnacle Award for Best Director was presented to Class of 2024 Film Production alumnus Mathilde Rodrigue for her work on Entangled.

Written and directed by Rodrigue, the 12-minute short follows a talented young woman who dreams of leaving her small town in Quebec in pursuit of a writing career, and her unlikely friendship with the postwoman who encourages her to leave the toxic relationship that is holding her back.

Rodrigue took her time at the TIFF Lightbox podium to heap praise on her “amazing team” for their support in bringing the story to the big screen.

“I honestly would not be here without everyone who helped me through this amazing project…I just want to start by thanking my amazing cast. Julianne Masson, you were the star of the show! I didn’t have much to do with you, honestly, you were so amazing,” Rodrigue said during her acceptance speech, also thanking Masson’s co-star, Keanu Bertrand.

“And the last person I want to thank is my amazing boyfriend, Charlie (Charles Adams-Gossage), my DP. You were such an important part of this project, but not just this project, my life, as well. And I think everything I do is always better because you’re a part of it.”

To cap off her speech, Rodrigue reflected on how her big win for Entangled marked a full-circle moment for her – one she hopes others can learn the importance of resilience from.

“When I wrote the first draft of this script, it was actually refused and I was not given a chance to pitch it. I remember crying in class to my teacher and begging her to give me a chance,” she said.

“I think winning this award for Best Director for Entangled is an example of how you should never, ever abandon your dreams. This industry will put the biggest challenges in front of you, and I think it’s important to focus on your goals, to never give up and to believe in yourself.”

Best Performance in a Female Role

Class of 2024 Acting to Film, TV & the Theatre grad Emma Logan took home the Pinnacle Award for Best Performance in a Female Role for her work in front of the camera in Locked Cut, which she also wrote and directed.

“I didn’t expect this,” she said in her acceptance speech. “Thank you so much to (my co-star) Andre Le’Neire and the crew – this could not have been made without you. You killed it, it was amazing working with you guys.”

Logan also took to the opportunity to thank her family and all of her teachers at TFS.

“I started this program with no experience whatsoever and you guys really made me confident in being able to do this,” she said. “I thought I would love it, and I really do love it. So, thank you to all the instructors.”

Best Performance in a Male Role

Logan also accepted the award for Best Performance in a Male Role on behalf of her absent co-star, Andre Le’Neire, who’s based in the United States.

Logan delivered a prepared speech written by Le’Neire, which apologized for his absence and thanked his director, cast and crew for their support:

“First, I want to apologize for not standing in front of you right now. I really wanted to make it, but I am so honoured to have Emma accept this award for me. I wouldn’t be here without her and Xanthe (Van der Gulik) and everyone who worked hard to make this film real. It was so amazing working with them, and I’d do it again a thousand times,” he wrote.

“Thank you also to TFS for making me confident enough to do what I love and support the creation of this film. I want to thank everyone who told me to just go for it.”

Video Game of the Year | Visual Excellence in a Video Game | Video Game Technical Achievement

Sweeping the video game categories at TFS FEST 2025 was Hazardous Hardware, which took home the Pinnacle Awards for Video Game of the Year, Visual Excellence in a Video Game, and Video Game Technical Achievement.

Several members of the Formic Forge team behind the game were on hand to collect the trophies on behalf of their teammates – including Art & Technical Director Austin Check, Lead Level Artist Kareem Mohsen, Niko Enns, who was responsible for Hazardous Hardware’s characters and branding, and Isis Johnston, who helmed the game’s social media and rigging.

Speaking for his team all three times they were called up to the podium was Check, a 2024 Video Game Design & Development graduate, who extended a “huge thank you” to his entire team on the project.

“It’s amazing! To see us take the original idea we had for this cute little robot that runs around and solves puzzles and to build it into what it is today, it’s been amazing to see,” he said.

During the team’s second trip to the stage, Check gave a shout out to the teams behind the other three nominated games: “DystO2pia, you guys made a phenomenal game. To create a game that actually feels scary and has some truly scary moments is no small task. Alice in the Public Domain, you had such a great, hilarious idea. And End of Eros, doing a multiplayer game is and to actually tackle that task and do so well, is just amazing.”

Check and Mohsen, a 2024 Video Game Design & Animation grad, also took the opportunity to thank their TFS instructors and program directors for their support of Hazardous Hardware at events like the XP Game Summit and Level Up, where the game took home the top prize for Best Artistic and second place for Best Technical.

“Thank you to Toronto Film School for the opportunity to showcase Hazardous Hardware at these events, where we actually won these awards and accolades for funding and for our own personal benefit and confidence – thank you so much,” Mohsen said.

Added Check:” A lot of the time when we’re showcasing these games, people will ask, ‘What’s the best part of working on this game?’ And I always give the same answer: getting to sit down, watch people play these games and see the joy on their face when they go through the levels, and play it,” he said. “It’s really fun to watch that happen, and it’s great that we get to do this, and hopefully keep on doing it. Thank you!”

Best Cinematographer

Nicolas Marneris kicked off his acceptance speech for the Best Cinematographer Award by thanking the director of The Man With the Iron Heart – his “beautiful girlfriend”, Johana Abed.

“Johana, I love you to death. It was such an honour to work with your vision. Honestly, it feels weird that you’re not up here right now, but I’m sure you’ll be coming up very shortly,” said the Class of 2024 Film Production grad, forecasting Abed’s win in the Best Picture category.

“I’d also like to thank all the directors who have given me a chance in cinematography – you all gave me a real shot to perfect my craft and I’m really here because of you, so thank you.”

Marneris capped off his time at the podium by extending his sincere thanks to his mom, dad and brother Matthew for their support, likening them to the “wind beneath his wings” throughout his TFS journey.

Best Screenplay

The Pinnacle Award for Best Screenplay went to Class of 2024 Acting for Film, TV & the Theatre grad Camryn Anderson for her screenplay for The Appraiser.

“I never really considered myself a ‘writer’ until probably this moment, so this is very surreal,” Anderson admitted during her acceptance speech for the award.

“First of all, I want to congratulate the other nominees in this category and all the films that we saw today. Your brains are so powerful! You guys are really, really brilliant!”

Anderson also took the opportunity to tell all those in attendance about her inspiration behind The Appraiser, which she said she wrote at a time she was really struggling with image.

“I feel that there is this stigma that high achievers shouldn’t ask for help, and maybe confident people don’t always need reassurance, because it can come across as fraudulent or disingenuous. And so, I began to really struggle with my perception of others,” she explained.

“And then I saw this clip of a guy on Shark Tank. This guy was a poker player and he went on the show and said ‘I want you to invest in me. I don’t have a product, but if you bet on me, I’m going to give you your money back doubled.’ And I thought that was really interesting.

“So, The Appraiser kind of lives at that satirical junction where self-worth becomes a quantifiable thing. I want to thank everyone who connected with this script and enjoyed it. This is awesome, thank you!”

Best Live Performance

Toronto Film School’s production of Those Who Are Lost won the evening’s Pinnacle Award for Best Live Performance.

Conceived and directed by Aaron Willis, Those Who Are Lost was inspired by the works of Nobel Prize-winning playwright and poet Harold Pinter and performed by a TFS cast of fifth-term Acting for Film, TV & the Theatre students.

Several members of that cast were on hand at the TIFF Lightbox to collect their trophy, including spokesperson Clea Elfy Anaya, who played the dual roles of Lionel and Suki in the play.

“I am super proud of the work and the outcome. It was an emotional rollercoaster getting the play together. It was so intense,” Anaya said of the three months of rehearsals she and her cast mates dedicated to preparing for their three-performance run at the Papermill Theatre in September 2025.

“We had to put 100 percent into every rehearsal and every showcase, and I could not have been prouder of everyone on stage every single night. I’m so, so happy to have had that experience.”

Best Documentary

Film Production grad Quinn O’Connor won the Pinnacle Award for Best Documentary for his 11-minute doc about his mother, former Canadian Olympic medal-winning sprinter, Molly Killingbeck.

Rounding the Corner sees Killingbeck recount her devastating setback at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, when she was bumped in the 4×400-metre relay final and dropped the baton, disqualifying her team from the race – an event that marked a turning point in her life and career as an athlete. The motivational film also chronicles Killingbeck’s return to the track as a coach, using her experience and “unshakeable resilience” to inspire a new generation of athletes.

During his acceptance speech, O’Connor said he felt “very fortunate” to have had the opportunity to tell his mother’s story.

“My mom is here tonight. She’s an inspiration to me and to many others, so I was happy I was able to use my filmmaking ability to shine a spotlight on her story,” he said. “It was a very, very cool project to work on.”

Best Production Design

The Pinnacle Award for Best Production Design was given to Acting for Film, TV & the Theatre grads Belinda Bijan and Camryn Anderson for their work on The Appraiser.

Both were on hand at the TIFF Lightbox to accept the award, heaping praise on the film’s crew for their “meticulous” attention to detail when it came to designing their set for the shoot.

“First of all, many thanks to TFS for letting us use their studio space,” said Anderson, who in addition to helping out with The Appraiser’s production design, also served as the film’s writer and director.

“Walking into that empty room and seeing it transform overnight was both the most terrifying and exciting experience ever, and I’d like to recognize members of the crew who made it happen.”

Bijan, meanwhile, took her time at the podium to thank Anderson for her leadership on set.

“I just want to say thank you for our director, Camryn, who was great to work with,” she said, before joking, “Honestly, I love spending time, late nights, bringing props in and out of my apartment. It always looks like I’m moving.”

Best International Short (TFSO)

Sanadtkumar Ganesan, a Class of 2023 Video Production grad who travelled to Toronto from Malaysia to attend TFS FEST, took home the Pinnacle Award for Best International Short for his film, Late Night Mini-Mart.

“First of all, thank you so much for the wonderful opportunity. I flew halfway across the world to be here today,” Ganesan said in his acceptance speech, during which he thanked his parents back home for their support, as well as his TFSO instructors, including Stephen Hoffner, Amy Wong, and Blain Watters.

“Late Night Mini-Mart is a film that came from the idea that we are so much more than the things that stop us, whether it’s our limiting beliefs or the things we hold onto because we don’t want to step out of our comfort zones. I wanted to make this film as a way to tell people, ‘Hey, you are so much more than you think you are,’ and I hope that message has landed with all of you.

“Thank you so much. Let’s all live and breathe movies!”

Best Production (TFSO)

Olivia-Autumn Rennie, who graduated from both Toronto Film School’s online Writing for Film & Television (2024) and Video Production (2025) programs, won the Pinnacle Award for Best Production for her film, Becoming the Butterfly.

The 10-minute film follows a man named Dagian, who finds himself lost in a surreal ocean of fading memories in the aftermath of a devastating stroke. With the unwavering support of his wife and daughter, he embarks on the most challenging journey of his life: a metamorphosis from his pre-stroke self to the person who emerges in the process of recovery.

In her acceptance speech, Rennie gave special thanks to the real-life brain injury survivors who shared their stories with her as she prepared to bring the film to life.

“I want to thank my incredible team on Becoming the Butterfly. This film was made in collaboration with brain injury survivors and it was a very difficult process to work through their experiences with them and translate that into this fictional narrative that we put on screen,” she said. “So, I really have to give them a hand for being so open and sharing and making this possible.”

Best Canadian Short (TFSO)

Class of 2025 Video Production grad Elizabeth Quesnel’s Sacred Women Rising was named the Pinnacle Award winner for Best Canadian Short.

The 10-minute documentary follows the Clan Mothers – a Manitoba-based Indigenous-women-led group – as they worked to open a Healing Village dedicated to supporting Indigenous women and 2 Spirit relatives in reconnecting with their strength, healing, and sacredness.

In her acceptance speech, Quesnel, who flew in from Winnipeg for TFS FEST, picked up where her film left off:

“The film ended with the Clan Mothers having their funding cut – but I just wanted to say that tomorrow, they are actually doing a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Clan Mothers’ Healing Village,” she announced, to huge applause from the crowd.

“I want to thank the Clan Mothers for the absolute honour of letting me into their space, and to the women who shared their lived experiences and their stories with me.”

Best Music Video

Writing for Film & Television student Keanan Frank Green brought home the Pinnacle Award for Best Music Video for his project, Exit Music for a Film (Radiohead).

He took time out on the podium to shout out the TFS mentors who helped him bring the project to life: “I’d like to give a big thank you to my instructors and my program director, Michelle (Daly) – they nurtured my growth and creativity and it genuinely means a lot when you have someone who wants to make you the best,” he said.

“I’d like to thank my team for the dedication and the passion they put into this project. We shot this in the freezing cold, but we had so much fun doing it. Thank you!”

Best Art Direction

Taking home the 2025 Pinnacle Award for Best Art Direction was Heather Fiolleau – a 2024 Graphic Design & Interactive Media grad and mother of seven.

During her acceptance speech, Fiolleau said it was an “honour” to be recognized alongside so many of her talented fellow TFS students whose work was showcased at TFS FEST 2025: “It’s really incredible all you’ve created. I’m blessed,” she said.

She also took time to acknowledge the sacrifices that allowed her to enroll at TFS in pursuit of her dream career in the creative industries – both those of her own, as well as those of her husband.

“I’m very proud, because this came at great sacrifice to me. I have seven children, so I took the program while I was on maternity leave with our last. And it came at great sacrifice and support from my husband. I love you, thank you,” she said.

“I graduated a year ago, and I’m thankful to be working in the field today. I took this program as an option for me to look at changing career paths. I was happy in what I was doing, but I love creative work and I’m thankful I took the strive and seized the opportunity and put my hard into it, through the sacrifice and support of my family. Thank you very much!”

Best Sound

Jack Spero for Coin Toss

Best Motion Graphic Artist

Jaden Kidd for Entangled

Best Film Editing

Mathusaan Suthesh & Dhananjay Nachar for One Crawls Over the Spider’s Web

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TFS FEST 2025 Sponsors

Presented by Skylar Media Group, TFS FEST 2025 was sponsored by Ubisoft Toronto, Gallagher, Shaftesbury, MUBI, Creative Arts Financial, Lionsgate Canada, Signature Video Group, Sony, XP Gaming, Blackmagic Design, AVID, Backstage, International Motion Picture Awards, Logickeyboard, Urban Post Production. The festival’s media partner was Y Media Group.