UPDATED:
Unsurprisingly, Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet” has taken home the TIFF People’s Choice Award, cementing its status as a major Best Picture contender at the Oscars. Jessie Buckley is already looking like the frontrunner for Best Actress.
In second place was hometown favorite Guillermo del Toro with “Frankenstein.” The Toronto connection surely didn’t hurt—del Toro has lived in the city for nearly a decade—but after its muted reception in Venice, this result puts the film back on steadier ground.
Third place went to Rian Johnson’s “Wake Up Dead Man,” the third ‘Knives Out’ mystery, which brought the house down in Toronto. It was the festival’s biggest world premiere, and Netflix has lined up a two-week theatrical run next month.
TIFF also introduced this year their International audience award, which means the winner, Park Chan-wook’s “No Other Choice,” was not eligible for the People’s Choice Award. Ditto runner-up, Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value.”
It’s interesting to note that the Documentary Audience Award went to “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue,” Barry Avrich’s account of a former Israeli general who rescued his family and others during the October 7 attack. The film had originally been pulled by TIFF, but after backlash, the festival reinstated it in its lineup.
The two best Midnight Madness movies I saw this year were recognized. Matt Johnson’s “Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie,” a hilariously inventive mockumentary won top prize. Curry Barker’s “Obsession,” which is so far the only big deal to have come out of the fest, Focus bought it for $15M, finished second.
And this year’s winners are...
TIFF People’s Choice Award: 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: 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: 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: “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...”
EARLIER: After nearly two weeks of screenings, the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival officially comes to a close today. As is tradition, the fest ends with a Sunday morning awards ceremony.
The spotlight, as always, is on the People’s Choice Award, TIFF’s crown jewel, which can —many times— be a good prognosticator for the best picture Oscar; we just have to forget about last year’s winner — an outlier — “The Life of Chuck.
The track record speaks for itself: twelve of the last fifteen winners went on to snag Best Picture Oscar nominations, with four actually taking home the big prize (“The King’s Speech,” “12 Years a Slave,” “Green Book,” “Nomadland”).
The ceremony kicked off at 10 a.m. ET, and we’ll be updating the winners live. Here’s the full list of categories to keep an eye on:
Stay tuned—awards season effectively begins here.
I should warn you: based on everything I’ve heard, this teaser is a total misdirection. The movie is not at all what it’s being portrayed as here. In fact, most of the footage in the teaser comes from the first few minutes of the film.