Canadian-Aghan movie wins audience award at Tofifest Filmfestival 2015 (Poland)

After the final counting of all the votes, we can announce that Canadian - Afghan film Mina Walking directed by Yosef Baraki, won the audience award of 13th edition of the International Film Festival Tofifest. A beautiful movie about the 12-year-old girl from Kabul charmed the audience of Torun's festival.

Tofifest ended on Sunday, but today we finished checking all of the audience votes. Presented in the main competition ON AIR, Mina walking slightly ahead of Krzysztof Łukaszewicz Karbala and Bones (Ossos) directed by the Portuguese master, Pedro Costa. Afghan film director, who lives and works in Toronto, Canada, was the guest Tofifest.

About movie: Though Afghan women are no longer prisoners in their homes after the ouster of the Taliban, the country’s destabilization after years of war has alienated impoverished women from education. For children like 12-years old Mina this means the responsibility to work in order to support her family. Thus, she wanders Kabul’s streets selling cheap trinkets to feed her Alzheimer stricken grandfather and her heroin addicted father. But Mina wants to be normal so she secretly attends classes; a decision that sets in motion a chain of events that change her life forever.

Yosef Baraki (born in 1989) is a Canadian filmmaker. Following his studies in Film Production & Philosophy at Toronto’s York University and Humber College, Yosef wrote and directed his fifth short film Der Kandidat recipient of the prestigious Norman McLaren Award at the Montreal World FF in 2013. Serving as writer, director, cinematographer and camera operator, Yosef spent 19 days shooting Mina Walking with non-professional actors and heavy improvisation in the busiest of Kabul’s environments.

Other awards fo this movie: Berlinale – official selection: Gerneration section (2015); Montreal IFF – official selection (2015); Zlin IFF – Ecumenical Jury Prize Special Mention: Milos Macourek Award (2015)

This year, the Tofifest Film Festival from Torun, which is known as a 'rebellious festival', offered an excellent film programme and made sure that the audience and all the guests experienced a truly great festival atmosphere. It was acknowledged by calling the film event in Torun "the coolest film festival". Tofifest presented more than 150 films, divided into 14 sections, among which there were many Polish premières. Our guests included Joe Pantoliano (Matrix, The Sopranos), Julian Sands (A Room with a View, The Killing Fields), Robert Wieckiewicz, Katarzyna Figura, and many others. The 14th edition of the festival will take place in October 2016.