Toronto and Fort Worth were among the biggest winners at the Global Production Awards, held during the Cannes Film Festival to celebrate the entertainment industry’s best and most innovative film productions, studios, locations and film commissions.
Toronto won both the City of Film and Film Commission of the Year Award in the city/region category. Fort Worth earned the Emerging Location Award, and the California Film Commission won Film Commission of the Year in the state, province and national category. The Studio of the Year Award went to Vancouver Film Studios.
More than 300 industry figures from around the globe attended the ceremony Monday in Cannes, France.
As MovieMaker noted when we named Toronto the No. 1 big city on our list of the Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker, the Canadian film capital is “a thriving, vibrant city of roughly 3 million with more than 2 million square feet of studio space.” It hosts shows including Prime Video’s The Boys, NBC’s Brilliant Minds, Hulu’s The Testaments, Prime’s Reacher, and many more, and was the base of Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, among other recent films.
Fort Worth Rising
The Emerging Location Award for Fort Worth recognized the city’s astonishing rise in recent years under commissioner Taylor Hardy.
“In just 10 years, the Fort Worth Film Commission has grown from a new office to attracting top film and TV projects, like Taylor Sheridan’s Landman, which was the third most-watched original series of 2025,” Hardy said in a statement. “We have worked diligently to strengthen Fort Worth’s film economy and international image; this recognition solidifies our position as a premier production destination.”
One judge in the Emerging Location Award is given to a film commission demonstrating an increased number of productions, attractive incentives, improved levels of service, growing crew base and infrastructure, as well as a variety of filming locations.
One judge in the Emerging Location Award category stated: “Fort Worth has come out of nowhere in the last decade. With the new incentive and volume of production, the location has become quite a powerhouse.”
Fort Worth jumped several places on our latest list of the Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker, thanks in part to a boost in the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program that will provide $1.5 billion to film and TV projects through 2035. Additionally, SGS Studios, which Sheridan founded, recently partnered on a new 450,000-square foot production campus at Fort Worth’s 27,000-acre AllianceTexas development.
Hardy discussed Fort Worth’s success in a recent Sundance panel, which you can watch here or below.
More Global Production Award Winners
The Global Production Awards recognized the Irish production Lemonade with its Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Award, and the Economic and Social Impact Award went to the Dallas Film Commission and Pegasus Media Project.
The Editor’s Choice Award for Outstanding Use of Locations went to the Japan-shot Rental Family.
The Impact Leadership Award went to the Irish filmmaker Jayne Foley. Location of the Year – Natural went to Svalbard, Norway, and Location of the Year – Site/Man-Made went to Longcross South Underwater Stages in the United Kingdom.
The Sustainability Initiative Award went to the Nordic Ecological Standard, and the Sustainable Production Award (Film) went to Jurassic World Rebirth, from NBCUniversal. Another NBCU production, All Her Fault, won the Sustainable Production Award (TV).
Netflix, meanwhile, won a Special Recognition Award.
Main image: Fort Worth Film Commissioner Taylor Hardy, right, with the Emerging Location Award. Courtesy of Fort Worth Film Commission.