VALENTYN VASYANOVYCH’S “TO THE VICTORY!” TAKES TIFF’S PLATFORM PRIZE! 
 
 Toronto has spoken. At the 10th anniversary of TIFF’s Platform competition, Ukrainian director Valentyn Vasyanovych walked away with the section’s top honor for his audacious new film “To The Victory!”- a unanimous choice by the international jury. The jury called the film a work of “refined simplicity that can only be achieved with artistic maturity and bold vision.” Known for the haunting “Atlantis” and his meticulous eye for composition, Vasyanovych pushes further here — breaking convention, using comedy as an unlikely vessel, and returning cinema to its elemental roots: image, rhythm, emotion.

 
 It is at once playful and devastating, a film that dares to laugh in the face of chaos and still leave us shaken by the truths underneath. The statement praised it as “both audacious and profoundly beautiful,” reminding audiences why we turn to cinema in the first place. Launched in 2015 and named after Jia Zhangke’s “Platform”, the competition was designed to showcase filmmakers with fearless voices and unmistakable style. The jury awarded Vasyanovych the $20,000 CAD prize, positioning him alongside a distinguished lineage of past recipients in just a decade: Pietro Marcello (“Martin Eden”), Pablo Larraín (“Jackie”), and most recently Carlos Marqués-Marcet (“They Will Be Dust”). 
 
 This was also the film that brought me to Toronto. After spending eleven intense days at the Venice Film Festival, I caught a flight straight across the Atlantic, arriving just in time to slide into my seat at the film’s 9:00 p.m. premiere on September 7. Jet-lagged, running on little more than espresso and adrenaline, I was nonetheless exhilarated to be there. And by the end of the screening, I knew why I had come — and why it had been worth the dash.
 
 Vasyanovych’s win is more than a personal triumph — it’s a reminder of the role daring filmmaking still plays on the world stage. In a year when Platform looks back on ten years of visionary storytelling, “To The Victory!” feels like both a battle cry and a promise: cinema still has the power to shock us, seduce us, and, when guided by a singular vision, bring us back to its very essence. To victory, indeed!

Report by Lena Basse