I watched 36 out of the 50 films that were part of this year’s TIFF lineup. I’ll write about my ten favorites tomorrow, but today TIFF announced that Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland” won the prestigious People’s Choice Award, which is usually seen as a very good precursor for the Best Picture statuette at the Oscars. Searchlight will release the movie on December 4th.
The first runner up was “One Night in Miami,” directed by Regina King. The second runner up was the Canadian film “Beans,” directed by Tracey Deer. The TIFF 2020 People’s Choice Documentary Award winner was “Inconvenient Indian,” directed by Michelle Latimer. The TIFF 2020 People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award winner turned out to be “Shadow in the Cloud,” directed by Roseanne Liang.
Last year’s People’s Choice Award went to Taika Waititi’s “Jojo Rabbit,” which led to it getting nominated for Best Picture and winning the Best Adapted Screenplay category. Over the last eight years, every top TIFF winner has gone on to be nominated for Best Picture.