Building on Telluride buzz that preceded it, Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet just lassoed the TIFF People’s Choice Award which makes it the bonafide top of the leaderboard favorite for the current Academy Award’s Best Picture race. Zhao’s Nomadland, which premiered at Telluride in 2020 and went won big in Toronto went on to win the big daddy prize. History will likely repeat itself. Focus Features are releasing the picture on November 27th. In the the runner-up acknowledgements, Netflix’s Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein and Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery grabbed silver and bronze.
The fest “split” the award adding an International category and that went to Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice – which played extremely well on the Lido but left Venice empty-handed. Other winners worth pointing out include Valentyn Vasyanovych’s To The Victory! which landed the Platform Award (an honourable mention went to György Pálfi’s Hen) and Lucía Aleñar Iglesias’ brilliant debut Forastera won the prestigious International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Prize.
Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet
First Runner-up: Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein
Second Runner-up: Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery
TIFF People’s Choice International Award presented by Rogers:
Park Chan-wook’s No Other Choice
First Runner-up: Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value
Second Runner-up: Neeraj Ghaywan’s Homebound
TIFF People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award presented by Rogers:
Matt Johnson’s Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie
First Runner-up: Curry Barker’s Obsession
Second Runner-up: Kenji Tanigaki’s The Furious
TIFF People’s Choice Documentary Award presented by Rogers:
Barry Avrich’s The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue
First Runner-up: Baz Luhrmann’s EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert
Second Runner-up: Nick Davis’ You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution…
Platform Award:
Valentyn Vasyanovych’s To The Victory!
Honourable Mention: György Pálfi’s Hen
Best Canadian Films
Best Canadian Feature Film Award: Zacharias Kunuk’s Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband)
Honourable Mention: Min Sook Lee’s There Are No Words
Best Canadian Discovery Award: Sophy Romvari’s Blue Heron
Honourable Mention: Kunsang Kyirong’s 100 Sunset
Short Cuts Awards
Best Canadian Short Film: Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski’s The Girl Who Cried Pearls
Honourable Mention: Heather Young’s A Soft Touch
Best International Short Film: Joecar Hanna’s Talk Me
Honourable Mention: Arvin Belarmino and Kyla Danelle Romero’s Agapito
Best Animated Short Film: Agnès Patron’s To the Woods
FIPRESCI and NETPAC Awards
International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Prize: Lucía Aleñar Iglesias’ Forastera
Network for the Promotion of Asia Pacific Cinema (NETPAC) Award: Jitank Singh Gurjar’s In Search of The Sky
