The 2022 Toronto International Film Festival came to an end on Sunday and with it the announcement of its always-hyped People’s Choice Award. And it was no surprise that Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” took the prize voted on by festival moviegoers. Second place went to Sarah Polley’s “Women Talking” while third place went to Rian Johnson’s “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.”
READ MORE: “The Fabelmans Review: Steven Spielberg bares his soul [TIFF]
The award has been hyped by the festival and others as an Oscar indicator over the past decade or so. Since 2008, only one winner did not end up earning a Best Picture nomination, Nadine Labaki’s “Where Do We Go Now” in 2011. But, during that same 14-year period only five winners took the Best Picture prize: “Slumdog Millionaire,” “The King’s Speech,” “Green Book,” “12 Years A Slave” and “Nomadland.” Last year’s winner, “Belfast,” was considered the Best Picture frontrunner until “Coda,” a Sundance Film Festival world premiere, took the prize instead. At this point in the race, Spielberg’s autobiographical drama is considered the Best Picture frontrunner.
It should be noted, however, that members of the general public are voting on these prizes and not Academy or even guild members.
Among other People’s Choice Award categories, the Midnight Madness honor went to Eric Appel’s “Weird: The Weird Al Yankovic Story.” Ti West’s “Pearl” and Tim Story’s “The Blackening” were runners-up. Hubert Davis’ “Black Ice” took the Documentary prize followed by Stephanie Jones’ “Maya and the Wave” and Babak Payami’s “752 Is Not A Number.”
Anthony Shim’s “Riceboy Sleeps” took the juried Platform Prize. Luis De Filippis’ “Something You Said Last Night” won the Shawn Mendes Foundation 2022 Changemaker Award which comes with a $10,000 prize.
Amplify Voices Award for Best Canadian Feature Film went to“To Kill A Tiger,” directed by Nisha Pahuja. Special Mention for Best Canadian Feature Film went to Stéphane Lafleur’s “Viking.” The Amplify Voices Award went to two films: Martika Ramirez Escobar’s “Leonor Will Never Die” and Vinay Shukla’s “While We Watched.” Special Mention for Best Feature from an Emerging BIPOC Filmmaker was awarded to “Madison Thomas’ Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On.“ The three main winners also received a $10,000 prize.
The TIFF FIPRESCI jury awarded Basil Khalil’s “A Gaza Weekend” the 2022 TIFF FIPRESCI prize.