After eleven days of movie watching in the heart of Toronto, it was announced earlier today that Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet” won the 2025 TIFF People’s Choice Award. Voted on by the general public after each film screens, the award has become a strong indicator of which movie would do well with Academy voters because it indicates broad appeal among a diverse group of people. The runners-up this year were two Netflix titles, Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” and Rian Johnson’s “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.”
For the first time ever, the Toronto International Film Festival introduced the International People’s Choice Award, and the inaugural winner was Park Chan-wook’s “No Other Choice.” The runners-up this year were Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value” and Neeraj Ghaywan’s “Homebound.”
The Midnight Madness Award went to Matt Johnson’s “Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie” with Curry Barker’s “Obsession” and Kenji Tanigaki’s “The Furious” announced as the runners-up.
The Documentary Award Award went to Barry Avrich’s “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue” with Baz Luhrmann’s “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert” and Nick Davis’ “You Had To Be There: How The Toronto Godspell ignited The Comedy Revolution…” announced as this year’s runners-up.
Past People’s Choice Award winners since the Oscar Best Picture lineup expanded to ten nominees (Best Picture nominees are highlighted in bold):
2024: 1. The Life Of Chuck 2. Emilia Pérez 3. Anora
2023: 1. American Fiction 2. The Holdovers 3. The Boy And The Heron
2022: 1. The Fabelmans 2. Women Talking 3. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
2021: 1. Belfast 2. Scarborough 3. The Power Of The Dog
2020: 1. Nomadland 2. One Night In Miami… 3. Beans
2019: 1. Jojo Rabbit 2. Marriage Story 3. Parasite
2018: 1. Green Book 2. If Beale Street Could Talk 3. Roma
2017: 1. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 2. I, Tonya 3. Call Me By Your Name
2016: 1. La La Land 2. Lion 3. Queen Of Katwe
2015: 1. Room 2. Angry Indian Goddesses 3. Spotlight
2014: 1. The Imitation Game 2. Learning To Drive 3. St. Vincent
2013: 1. 12 Years A Slave 2. Philomena 3. Prisoners
2012: 1. Silver Linings Playbook 2. Argo 3. Zaytoun
2011: 1. Where Do We Go Now? 2. Starbuck 3. A Separation
2010: 1. The King’s Speech 2. The First Grader
2009: 1. Precious: Based On The Novel ‘Push’ By Sapphire 2. Mao’s Last Dancer 3. Micmacs
As you can see, whether it’s the winner or the runners-up, at least one of the three placed films has managed to score a Best Picture nomination, with the exception being 2011 (though one could make the argument that “A Separation” might’ve gotten into the Best Picture lineup in a year of a straight ten but that’s for another conversation). Sometimes, two Best Picture nominees emerge from the TIFF People’s Choice Award placement, and in 2019, all three managed to score Best Picture nominations. The Best Picture winner has placed within the top 3 eight times since the Best Picture lineup expanded to ten nominees in 2009.
Here are the other winners from the year’s Toronto International Film Festival:
International Award: NO OTHER CHOICE dir. Park Chan-wook
Documentary Award: THE ROAD BETWEEN US: THE ULTIMATE RESCUE dir. Barry Avrich
Midnight Madness Award: NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE dir. Matt Johnson
Platform Award: TO THE VICTORY! dir. Valentyn Vasyanovych
Best Canadian Feature Film Award: UIKSARINGITARA (WRONG HUSBAND) dir. Zacharias Kunuk
Best Canadian Discovery Award: BLUE HERON dir. Sophy Romvari
NETPAC Award: IN SEARCH OF THE SKY dir. Jitank Singh Gurjar
FIPRESCI Prize: FORASTERA dir. Lucía Aleñar Iglesias
Short Cuts Award for Best Canadian Short Film: THE GIRL WHO CRIED PEARLS dir. Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski
Short Cuts Award for Best International Short Film: TALK ME dir. Joecar Hanna
Short Cuts Award for Best Animated Short Film: TO THE WOODS dir. Agnès Patron
Will “Hamnet” receive a Best Picture nomination? What does the TIFF People’s Choice Award do for its awards prospects? Please let us know in the comments section below or on Next Best Picture’s X account and check out our latest Oscar predictions here.
