TIFF 2022: The Tromsø International Film Festival comes to an end tonight, and on this occasion, the result of the public votes is clear. Among this year’s films, it turns out that Canadian Beans is the highest rated.

TIFF viewers are used to going their own way, which, among other things, means that not particularly high-profile films get very impressive visitor numbers – which is of course gratifying. And when this year’s People’s Choice votes were summed up, it was a small Canadian production that won. Beans is Tracey Cerfis a partly autobiographical first feature film and revolves around the Oka crisis, which took place in Quebec in 1990.

The festival catalog states that “Beans is a story about growing up in a turbulent political time and a heightened confirmation of the identity of Indigenous peoples. (…) Based on the traumatic experiences that Tracey Deer herself had in her childhood, this beautiful film shows from the inside what the Mohawk communities went through during their 78-day conflict with the government.It also highlights the role of women in the fight for the rights and freedoms of indigenous peoples, and young actress Kiawentiio really shines in the lead role.”

Total he was sold 31,008 tickets at this year’s TIFF, including 3,370 for streaming performances on the festival platform TIFF Digital. They also include the approximately 2,500 students registered for TIFF school screenings which, due to infection control rules in early January, were postponed until after the festival.

It must be said that these are very solid figures considering the challenges the festival has had with infection control restrictions which, among other things, have led to reduced capacity in cinemas.