by Nathaniel R
This year's TIFF has wrapped. Normally we cover it extensively, as you know, but they cut out a big swath of press this year including us... *cries*. Hopefully we'll return next year and if not we'll have to find a new favourite festival to obsess over. Herewith the winners and some Oscar stats, and if we've already discussed the movies, there's a link...
AUDIENCE PRIZES
People's Choice: Nomadland dir. Chloé Zhao.
(First runner up: One Night in Miami... dir. Regina King; Second runner up: Beans dir. Tracey Deer.)
People's Choice, Documentary: Inconvenient Indian dir. Michelle Latimer.
People’s Choice, Midnight Madness: Shadow in the Cloud dir. Roseanne Liang.
That's right ALL of the audience prizes this year went to female filmmakers! Even the runners up were directed by women. The People's Choice Award is major bragging rights since it often signals kind Oscar fates down the road. Basically it would be a shock if Nomadland misses the Best Picture nomination at this point afterwinning TIFF and Venice though One Night in Miami has less convincing stats on its side. The stats go like so...
People's Choice History
In the entire 43 year history of this prize, stretching From Girlfriends (1978) through Nomadland (2020), 18 of the People's Choice winners went on to a Best Picture nominations at the Oscars (including JoJo Rabbit last season). The 43 winners also include 8 future Best Picture winners (including Green Book for 2018), 6 future Best Foreign Language Film winners, and 2 future Best Documentary Feature winners.
One Night in Miami
Past Ten Years Only Stats (2010-2019)
The past ten years especially have been Oscar-aligned. 90% of the People's Choice winners (like Nomadland) went on to Best Picture nominations with three of them winning (The King's Speech, 12 Years a Slave and Green Book). As for the first and second runners up (like Regina King's fictional ensemble drama about real life black icons One Night in Miami and the Canadian feature Bean which is a true story about a standoff between an indigenous community and the Canadian government in 1990), 40% of each of those almost-winners went on to a Best Picture nomination. Curiously the second runner up prize in the past ten years has produced more Best Picture winners (two: Parasite, Spotlight) than the first runner up prize has (one: Argo).
JURIED PRIZES
Kelly Fyffe-MarshallChangemaker Award presented by Shawn Mendes Foundation ($10,000 prize):
Black Bodies, a short film by Kelly Fyffe-Marshall.
Kelly Fyffe-Marshall is a social activist filmmaker who has directed a handful of shorts now. Her debut short, Haven (2018) premiered at SXSW. She's currently developing her first feature.
Amplify Voices Award presented by Canada Goose ($10,000 prize):
Inconvenient Indian, dir. Michelle Latimer
(Special Mention: Fauna, dir. Nicolás Pereda)
The Disciple, dir. Chaitanya Tamhane
Night of the Kings, dir. Phillipe Lacôte
(Special Mention: Downstream to Kinshasa, dir. Dieudo Hamadi)
Night of the Kings has already been Oscar submitted and we're beginning to wonder if The Disciple will be India's submission choice given its successful festival run thus far. The documentary Inconvenient Indian won two prizes at TIFF. If we get a chance to see it we'll discuss. Here's a clip...
IMDbPro SHORT CUTS AWARDS ($10,000 prize)
Dustin Muchuvitz stars in Dustin (2020)
Best Film: Dustin, dir. Naïla Guiguet
Canadian Film: Benjamin, Benny, Ben, dir. Paul Shkordoff
Share Her Journey Award (aka Female Filmmaker Award): Sing Me a Lullaby, dir. Tiffany Hsiung
(Honourable mention: O Black Hole!, dir. Renee Zhan)
Dustin, about a trans raver (played by Dustin Muchuvitz) and their friends in a warehouse, is Naïla Guiguet's directorial debut but she's written three other short films in France. The brilliant out French actor Felix Maritaud (Sauvage/Wild) also appears in this short.