As the Toronto International Film Festival got underway Thursday, domestic producers honored their own by giving Niv Fichman the CFTPA Feature Film Producer’s Award.

Fichman, who also grabbed the $10,000 that comes with the prize, was honored at a reception at The Fifth Element lounge in Toronto for his 25 years of feature filmmaking.

Fichman says the award — a competition between English- and French-language producers with movies playing at TIFF — bodes well for the Canadian industry.

‘Hopefully, just by having an award like this it means Canadian cinema is starting to come of age, and we do have a level of producers in this country that’s worth awarding as they make better cinema to take to the world,’ he said.

Fichman’s film credits include The Red Violin, Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, Last Night, Snowcake and, most recently, François Girard’s Silk, which bows Tuesday night — a special presentation at the festival’s 32nd edition.

Future work from Fichman includes Blindness, Don McKellar’s adaptation of the José Saramago novel, and Paul Gross’ First World War epic Passchendaele.

Steve Hegyes, co-principal of Vancouver’s Brightlight Pictures and chair of the jury that awarded the prize, says he recommended Fichman because of the A-list talent often featured in his films — some of the most complicated coproductions ever structured.

‘The CFTPA is pleased to once again support the celebration of excellence with the CFTPA Producer’s Award. We all have so much appreciation for the challenges of making any feature film, and I am very proud to congratulate all of these distinguished nominees on the creation of major bodies of work,’ added Guy Mayson, CFTPA president and CEO.

The inaugural CFTPA award was last year given to Quebec producer Luc Déry.