"The Life of Chuck" wins Toronto
Monday, September 16, 2024 at 7:53PM Oops. I apologize people. I wrote this in a timely fashion but something didn't click when I hit publish. You surely know this already but here goes!
image from Vanity Fair obviously!
TIFF doesn't have a headlining jury that give out several prizes like the other 'big five' festivals (Sundance, Berlinale, Cannes, and Venice). But they do have a smattering of prizes, the marquee one being the People's Choice Award. Oscar voters are not unlike TIFF festivalgoers... or so go the stats with this prize regularly helping films along on their journey to Oscar glory. But this year, the prize was a real surprise. It did not go to one of the perceived and much-discussed Oscar hopefuls. The People's Choice for 2024 instead went to The Life of Chuck, starring Tom Hiddleston, which is a Stephen King adaptation by Mike Flanagan...
Flanagan has of course been very busy with horror genre series for Netflix (Midnight Madness, The Haunting of Hill House, The Midnight Club, Fall of the House of Usher) but this one's a feature film. The runners up were Cannes darlings Anora (to be released by Neon in October) and Emilia Perez (to be released by Netflix in November), both of which are harboring more traditional Oscar dreams however untraditional they may be as contenders given their subject matter.
TIFF PRIZES
People's Choice: The Life of Chuck
1st Runner Up: Anora
2nd Runner Up: Emilia Perez
People's Choice, Documentary: The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal (MGM/Amazon)
1st Runner Up: Will & Harper (Netflix) about Will Ferrell and his friend coming out to him as a transwoman.
2nd Runner Up: Your Tomorrow about Ontario Place and the fight over its redevelopment.
People's Choice, Midnight Madness: The Substance (MUBI) the much discussed Demi Moore body-horror film opens next week in US theaters. It's kind of unmissable for its sheer gonzo energy and sledgehammer satire.
1st Runner Up: Dead Talents Society a Taiwanese film about ghosts and urban legends
2nd Runner Up: Friendship starring Paul Rudd, Kate Mara, and Brian Robinson
Platform Prize: They Will Be Dust a Spanish language film about a woman with an incurable brain tumor
FIPRESCI Prize: Mother Mother
Netpac Award for Best Asian Film: The Last of the Sea Women a South Korean documentary about female divers on Jeju Island
Canadian Discovery Award: Universal Language (Canada's Oscar Submission)
Short Cuts Award: Deck 5B (Sweden)
Canadian Short Cut Award: Are You Scared to be Yourself Because You Think You Might Fail
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One interesting note from This Had Oscar Buzz in their recap: voting for the People’s Choice Award was changed this year. Instead of voting with paper slips, attendees voted online. They had a few fun theories about how that may have impacted voting.