This year’s Toronto International Film Festival is coming to a close, and the festival’s top prize, the People’s Choice Award, has gone to Room.
Directed by Lenny Abrahamson, Room stars 8-year-old Jacob Tremblay as a small child whose entire world is the room where he lives with his mother (Brie Larson). Since premiering at Telluride and screening in Toronto, the adaptation of Emma Donoghue’s best-selling novel has earned rave reviews and sparked Oscar buzz. In the past, the People’s Choice award has gone to future Oscar Best Picture winners like 12 Years A Slave, The King’s Speech, and Slumdog Millionaire.
This year’s second runner-up for the People’s Choice award was Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight, and the first runner-up was Pan Nalin’s Angry Indian Goddesses.
Other TIFF award winners include Ilya Naishuller’s Hardcore, which won the People’s Choice Midnight Madness award, and Evgeny Afineevsky’s Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight For Freedom, which earned the People’s Choice documentary award. The full list of winners is below.
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Short Cuts Award for Best Canadian Short Film: Overpass, directed by Patrice Laliberté
Short Cuts Award for Best Short Film: Maman(s), directed by Maïmouna Doucouré
City of Toronto Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film: Sleeping Giant, directed by Andrew Cividino
Canada Goose Award for Best Canadian Feature Film: Closet Monster, directed by Stephen Dunn
International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Prize for Discovery: Eva Nová, directed by Marko Skop
International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Prize for Special Presentations: Desierto, directed by Jonás Cuarón
NETPAC Award for World or International Asian Film Premiere: The Whispering Star, directed by Sion Sono
Toronto Platform Prize: HURT, directed by Alan Zweig
Grolsch People’s Choice Award: Room, directed by Lenny Abrahamson
Grolsch People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award: Hardcore, directed by Ilya Naishuller
Grolsch People’s Choice Documentary Award: Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom, directed by Evgeny Afineevsky
Dropbox Discovery Programme Filmmakers Award: Black, directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah
