Jordan Canning is the national winner of the RBC Emerging Filmmakers Competition, part of the four-day Talent Lab program at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The St. John’s, NL-based Canning receives a prize of $15,000 for Seconds, in which a man’s life flashes before his eyes as he chokes to death on a piece of meat, the organizers said in a statement released Wednesday.

Toronto’s Johnny Ma receives $10,000 and an honourable mention for Dec 32, while Vancouver’s Nimisha Mukerji receives $5,000 and the fan favourite nod for The Arrival Hour.

The national winner and honourable mention were selected from 17 submissions, then narrowed to five finalists, by the jury panel.

Canadians viewed the five finalists’ films online and voted for the fan favourite award.

The theme of this year’s competition was Time, and each filmmaker was provided with $500 to develop a one- to five-minute short film for the competition.