Often there is a direct line between Best Picture Oscar contenders and winners of the Audience Award at the Toronto Film Festival. Slumdog Millionaire, 12 Years A Slave, The King's Speech, American Beauty and others all won and went on to win the Academy's top prize. This year's most buzzed-about film, La La Land, looks to be following the same pattern as TIFF has honored Damien Chazelle's musical ode to Los Angeles with the festival's prestigious award.
La La Land stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in a rare original Hollywood musical, and was met with rapturous applause from all who attended. It beat out two other potential Oscar contenders, the heart-warming dramas Queen of Katwe and Lion. As the film continues to blaze a trailer through the festival circuit (it'll be here at Middleburg in just a few weeks) picking up more awards it's going to pick up more momentum for a successful Oscars run.
Other winners went to Ben Wheatley's action genre flick, Free Fire, which won the Midnight Madness audience award. Pablo Larrain's Jackie Kennedy biopic, Jackie, won a jury prize for Platform offerings. The film is likely to earn Natalie Portman a Best Actress nom down the line. The documentary audience award went to Raoul Peck's I Am Not Your Negro, about an unfinished work by acclaimed writer James Baldwin.
The full list of winners can be found below:
Grolsch People’s Choice Documentary Award: "I Am Not Your Negro"
Grolsch People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award: "Free Fire"
Grolsch People’s Choice Award: "La La Land"
Toronto Platform Prize: "Jackie"
Dropbox Discovery Programme Filmmakers Award: “Jeffrey”
Short Cuts Awards (Canadian film): “Mutants”
Short Cuts Awards Best Short Film: “Imago”
City Of Toronto Award Best First Canadian Feature: “Old Stone”
Canada Goose Best Canadian Feature: “Those Who Make Revolution Halfway Only Dig Their Own Graves”
Fipresci Jury Prize, Discovery Section: “Kati Kati”
Special Presentation Section: “I Am Not Madame Bovary”
Network For Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC) award: “In Between”
