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Source: IndieWire
The yearly film festival circuit continues to move along towards the highly anticipated string of awards ceremonies set to begin prior to the year’s conclusion, and it was only just recently that the latest of these festivals, the Toronto International Film Festival, wrapped up after ten days of showcasing a wide variety of cinematic creations from filmmakers old and new. In some respects, TIFF feels like a perfect balance between Hollywood and the cinematic landscape that lies outside the United States. On the one hand, TIFF takes place in Toronto, Ontario, one of the largest cities in Canada (apart from Mexico, the United States’ closest neighbor), so it’s within close enough proximity to Hollywood for the major studios and filmmakers to more easily access the event than is possible with film festivals that take place further out in the world. On the other hand, with both TIFF and Hollywood lying on opposite sides of the American-Canadian border, the festival is still the product of an entirely different film industry, so even in spite of whatever influence of filmmaking from the other side of the border may exist, TIFF is still designed to represent the Canadian film industry and its values above all else. In any case, TIFF has strived to serve as a proper exhibition of an abundance of cinematic excellence hailing from various different points of the globe, and it doesn’t look like this year’s event was any different. Beginning on Thursday, September 7th and ending on Sunday, September 17th, the ten-day festival had quite a bit to offer from its expansive selection of chosen films, and before it all finally came to an end, a small handful of them were deemed to be the best of the best, some of which have a very solid chance of building their reputations in the coming months.
With TIFF, not unlike the Venice and Telluride Film Festivals (among others), generally thought of as being the start of awards season and a reliable predictor of how the upcoming awards ceremonies will play out, it’s hardly surprising that many people were looking forward to finding out what would win Toronto’s biggest prize: the People’s Choice Award. After all, eleven of the previous fourteen winners of this particular accolade would later go on to at least be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, with some, like 2018’s “Green Book” and 2020’s “Nomadland” even going on to win the award. What might be a bit shocking to some is the film that TIFF jurors ended up giving the People’s Choice Award this year: Cord Jefferson’s “American Fiction”, a satire of the publishing industry starring Jeffrey Wright as a writer who pens an intentionally unflattering depiction of the black experience that somehow becomes an immense overnight success. Prior to TIFF, “American Fiction” hadn’t been getting the kind of attention that such films as “Poor Things” and “The Holdovers”, those crafted by filmmakers who had already made a name for themselves at previous festivals, were receiving from jurors and event attendees; with this People’s Choice Award win though, that will hopefully start to change for the better. Should things continue to go well enough, Jefferson’s film could become a surprise breakout within the remainder of the awards circuit.
One shouldn’t feel too bad for “The Holdovers” though, as it was named one of the runners-up for the People’s Choice Award. Directed by Alexander Payne and starring Paul Giamatti, the period comedy-drama, which revolves around a teacher who supervises the students of his school who are unable to return home for the holidays, had previously premiered at the Telluride Film Festival, where it was met with mostly positive reception. Responses from Toronto film-goers seem to be equally favorable, and while it had fallen just a bit short of winning the People’s Choice Award, its First Runner-Up status should almost certainly be of some benefit to the film as it continues to maintain a presence in what’s left of the festival circuit. Similar thoughts can be expressed about the other runner-up for the People’s Choice Award: Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron”, which marks the return of the director behind such animated classics as “My Neighbor Totoro” and “Spirited Away” after a retirement that proved to only be a temporary status. Miyazaki’s previous directorial endeavor, the 2013 biographical drama “The Wind Rises”, had previously held its North American premiere at TIFF, so it seems only natural that his comeback film would likewise receive its own North American premiere at the same event. This approach certainly didn’t hurt the film’s ability to win the favor of jurors and festival-goers, and its earning of the Second Runner-Up spot for the People’s Choice Award further proves that Miyazaki has not lost his touch even after the decade-long period between film releases.
Those concerned with only the People’s Choice Award and whatever film won it (or at least came close to winning it), however, are at risk of ignoring the various other films that had one at least one accolade at this year’s Toronto festival. A24 and Larry Charles’ amusingly-titled “Dicks: The Musical”, for example, was fortunate enough to receive the People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award, with Nikhil Nagesh Bhat’s “KILL” and Finn Wolfhard and Billy Bryk’s “Hell of a Summer” being named the award’s runners-up. The People’s Choice Documentary Award, meanwhile, went to “Mr. Dress-Up: The Magic of Make-Believe”, directed by Robert McCallum and highlighting the history and influence of the popular Canadian children’s television series. Then there was the Platform Award, which was handed out to Tarsem Singh Dwandhar for the film “Dear Jassi”, while the Best Canadian Feature Film award went to “Solo” and director Sophie Dupuis. Even short films got their fair share of recognition from TIFF jurors, with Daria Kascheeva winning Best Short Film for “Electra” and Jasmin Mozaffari winning Best Canadian Short for her film “Motherland”. These are just a small sampling of the cinematic works that received at least one accolade from the Toronto International Film Festival, and while there’s much to admire about those associated with the winner and runners-up of these People’s Choice Award, one shouldn’t overlook the other films that were able to win some of the smaller prizes.
