A film that premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival about the honour killing of a Maple Ridge woman India has won one of the festival’s most prestigious awards.
Dear Jassi, directed by Tarsem Singh Dhandwar, took home the 2023 Platform Award, receiving a $20,000 cash prize.
The movie tells the true story of Jaswinder Kaur Sidhu, who graduated in 1993 from Pitt Meadows Secondary School and was the daughter of rich blueberry farmers in Maple Ridge. Jassi was killed in June of 2000 in the Indian state of Punjab after she secretly married a rickshaw driver, Sukhwinder ‘Mithu’ Sidhu, a year before, against the wishes of her family.
Her mother, Malkrit Kaur Sidhu, and her uncle, Surjit Singh Badesha were accused of orchestrating the killing of Jassi and the attempted killing of Mithu from Canada. They were eventually extradited to India in 2019 to face a trial.
According to online news sources, Jassi’s mother was released on bail in December 2020, because of time already served, and her uncle’s bail application was to be reviewed Nov. 9, 2021.
The Platform Award was named after Jia Zhang-ke’s groundbreaking film, a film considered one of the best grassroots movies of the year 2000, and spotlights films with high artistic merit and strong directorial vision.
READ ALSO: Maple Ridge residents in India to face charges in honour killing
RELATED: Educator who demanded justice for Jassi remembered
Jury members included: Academy Award winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins; writer, director, and actor Nadine Labaki, whose debut film in 2007 opened at Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes and was Lebanon’s official submission to the 80th Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film; and actor, director, and producer Anthony Shim, whose second film, Riceboy Sleeps, premiered at TIFF last year, where it also won the Platform Prize.
Awards also went to:
• American Fiction, directed by Cord Jefferson, 2023 People’s Choice Award
• Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make Believe, directed by Robert McCallum, 2023 People’s Choice Documentary Award
• Dicks: The Musical Story, directed by Larry Charles, 2023 People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award
• Electra, directed by Daria Kashcheeva, 2023 Short Cuts Award for Best Film
• Motherland, directed by Jasmin Mozaffari, 2023 Short Cuts Award for Best Canadian Film
• Shé (Snake), directed by Renee Zhan, 2023 Share Her Journey Award
• Solo, directed by Sophie Dupuis, 2023 Best Canadian Feature Film Award
• Kanaval, directed by Henri Pardo, 2023 Amplify Voices Award - Best BIPOC Canadian Feature
• Tautuktavuk (What We See), directed by Carol Kunnuk and Lucy Tulugarjuk, 2023 Amplify Voices Award for Best BIPOC Canadian First Feature
• We Grown Now, directed by Minhal Baig, 2023 Changemaker Award
• A Match, directed by Jayant Digambar Somalkar, 2023 NETPAC Award
• Seagrass, directed by Meredith Hama-Brown, 2023 FIPRESCI Prize
