“Black”, a film by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, has won the Dropbox Discovery Award at the Toronto Film Festival (TIFF), the organisers announced on Sunday. The film, due to premiere in Belgium on November 11th, is based on the novels “Black” and “Back” by Dirk Bracke. Adil El Arbi, who was there to receive the award in person, declared that it was “a dream come true.”
2015 marks the inaugural year of the Dropbox Discovery Award. The award, which includes $5,000 CAD in prize money, was introduced in honour of the 40th anniversary of the TIFF.
The jury praised “Black” for its “clear cinematic vision, creatively and audaciously realised,” adding that the two directors had made “a powerful impression upon cinema, with their arresting visual and sonic sensibility placing the loyalties and threats of gang life into sharp relief.”
The feature film “Room”, from the Irish director Lenny Abrahamson, adapted from Emma Donoghue’s novel about a woman who was imprisoned in her basement for several years, was announced as the winner of the People’s Choice Award as the festival came to a close.
(Source: Belga)
