Toronto Film Festival Announces Award Winners

The Toronto International Film Festival has announced the recipients of its awards, including the People’s Choice Award, American Fiction. The People’s Choice Award has been voted for by audience members since 1978 and the winner often considered a frontrunner for the Best Picture Oscar.

Best Picture winners who have also won the People’s Choice Award at TIFF include Nomadland, Green Book, 12 Years a Slave, The King’s Speech, Slumdog Millionaire, American Beauty and Chariots of Fire. If not winners, they almost always score nominations; nominees for Best Picture that have won the PCA include The Fabelmans, Belfast, JoJo Rabbit, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri, Room, La La Land, The Imitation Game, Silver Linings Playbook, Precious, Life Is Beautiful, Places in the Heart and The Big Chill.

The full list of award winners from the Toronto International Film Festival in below:

Short Cuts Award for Best Film: Electra, dir. Daria Kashcheeva

Short Cuts Award for Best Canadian Film: Motherland, dir. Jasmin Mozaffari

Share Her Journey Award: Shé (Snake), dir. Renee Zhan

Honorable Mention: Gaby’s Hills, dir. Zoé Pelchat

Netpac Award: A Match, dir. Jayant Digambar Somalkar

Fipresci Prize: Seagrass, dir. Meredith Hama-Brown

Best BIPOC Canadian Feature: Kanaval, dir. Henri Pardo

Best BIPOC Canadian First Feature Award: Tautuktavuk (What We See), dirs. Carol Kunnuk, Lucy Tulugarjuk

2023 Amplify Voices Trailblazer Award:  Damon D’Oliveira, producer.  

Best Canadian Feature Film Award: Solo, dir. Sophie Dupuis

Honorable Mention: Kanaval, dir. Henri Pardo

Changemaker Award: We Grown Now, dir. Minhal Baig.

Platform Award: Dear Jassi, dir. Tarsem Singh Dhandwar.

2023 People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award: Dicks: The Musical, dir. Larry Charles.

First runner-up: Kill dir. Nikhil Nagesh Bhat.

Second runner-up: Hell of a Summer dirs. Finn Wolfhard, Billy Bryk.

2023 People’s Choice Documentary Award: Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe dir. Robert McCallum. 

First runner-up: Summer Qamp dir. Jen Markowitz.

Second runner-up: Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa dir. Lucy Walker.

2023 People’s Choice Award: American Fiction dir. Cord Jefferson.

First runner-up: The Holdovers dir. Alexander Payne. 

Second runner-up: The Boy and the Heron dir. Hayao Miyazaki.