Iconic director Steven Spielberg has given cinema a wide variety of stories ranging from his famous fantastical sci-fi adventures to intimate character dramas and historical period pieces. The maestro’s latest outing is the semi-autobiographical The Fabelmans. After having a world premiere at TIFF (read our review), the movie just picked up the prestigious People’s Choice Audience Award, widely considered the fest’s top honor.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, this is Spielberg’s first film to debut at the festival, and it was a special film in which to do so, as the filmmaker explains.
Spielberg had this to say following his win,
This is the most personal film I’ve ever made, and the warm reception from everyone in Toronto made my first visit to TIFF so intimate and personal for me and my entire Fabelman family.”
Two films would tie for first runner-up for the award. The anticipated sequel to Knives Out from Rian Johnson, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, and the film, Women Talking, from Sarah Polley. Previous Audience Award winners had gone on to garner Academy Award wins, even taking the Best Picture prize, such as 12 Years a Slave, La La Land, Nomandland, and Room.
The Midnight Madness award goes to the other semi-autobiographical film, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. This was the only award that the infamously now-canceled The People’s Joker would’ve been eligible for until Warner Bros served a cease and desist to the movie for infringing on copyrights.
These awards, as deduced from the name, are voted by the attendees of the festival. Each viewer could not vote more than once online as each vote is tied to an email address and tracked by their purchased ticket. Other winners include; Black Ice by Hubert Davis, winning for Best Documentary, Riceboy Sleeps from the director, Anthony Shim, taking home the Platform Award, and A Gaza Weekend from Basil Khalil had gone on to win the FIPRESCI Prize.
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