Each year, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) selects Canada’s Top Ten, a list celebrating the best in recent Canadian cinema, from feature-length films to shorts.
Members of York University’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design frequently appear on the annual list, reflecting the creative impact of York graduates and their status among Canada’s top filmmaking talent.
This year, four former and current AMPD students were recognized for their feature-length or short films.
Sophy Romvari (MFA ’20), Blue Heron
Since completing her MFA at York, writer-director Romvari has gained international recognition for her short films. Blue Heron, her first feature-length movie, explores the internal dynamics of a family of six on Vancouver Island through the perspective of its youngest member.
After premiering in Fall 2025, Blue Heron won the Swatch First Feature Award at the 78th Locarno Film Festival and was named Best Canadian Discovery at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Matt Johnson (BFA ’06, MFA ’16), Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie
Johnson has become one of Canada’s most prominent filmmakers, most recently earning international acclaim and multiple Canadian Screen Awards for the film BlackBerry. His latest feature-length directorial effort, Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie, adapts the cult television and web series he co-created with longtime collaborator and fellow AMPD alum Matthew Miller (BFA ’03, MFA ’16).
Before being named to the Canada's Top Ten, the film was the recipient of the TIFF ’25 People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award.
Martin Edralin (current MFA student), La Mayordomía
Edralin is an award-winning Canadian director whose previous short films include Hole, which won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Live Action Short, and Emma, which was named to TIFF’s Canada’s Top Ten list in 2016.
His latest short film, La Mayordomía, premiered at the 2025 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, where it won the Audience Award for Short Films. The film documents a Mexican ritual where families are chosen to care for baby Jesus figures – some dating back to the 16th century.
Lesley Loksi Chan (BFA ’08, MFA ’18), Lloyd Wong, Unfinished
Born as an archival initiative while Chan was a graduate student at York, the short film Lloyd Wong, Unfinished tells the story of a Chinese-Canadian artist who documented his life living with HIV in early 1990s Toronto but died before completing the project.
When the lost footage was found around 2020, Chan brought the unfinished work to life through her short film, which has received several additional recognitions, including the prestigious Teddy Award for Best Short Film and the Golden Bear for Best Short Film at the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival.
For more information about Canada's Top Ten, visit the TIFF website.