Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland,” a low-key drama starring Frances McDormand as a woman who loses her house and travels around the Western United States in a van, has won the People’s Choice Award at the 2020 Toronto International film Festival, TIFF organizers announced on Sunday.
The first runner-up for the award was “One Night in Miami,” the first feature to be directed by actress Regina King. The second runner-up was “Beans,” a coming-of-age story from indigenous Canadian director Tracey Deer.
The People’s Choice Award in the documentary section went to Michelle Latimer’s “Inconvenient Indian,” while the Midnight Madness winner was Roseanne Liang’s “Shadow in the Cloud.”
Over the last eight years in a row, and nine of the last 10 years and 12 of the last 13, the TIFF People’s Choice winner has gone on to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. In that stretch, it has won three times: “The King’s Speech” in 2010, “12 Years a Slave” in 2013 and “Green Book” in 2018. This year’s festival was slimmed down significantly because of the coronavirus, with fewer big awards contenders on display — but Searchlight’s “Nomadland” won rave reviews and was the likeliest Oscar movie at the festival, so the TIFF streak has a very good chance of remaining intact.
The film also won the jury prize at the Venice International Film Festival, which began just before TIFF. It is the first time those two awards have ever gone to the same film.
In other TIFF awards, the Changemaker Award went to “Black Bodies” by Kelly-Fyffe Marshall, the Amplify Voices Award for the best Canadian film went to “Inconvenient Indian,” with a special mention to “Fauna”; and the Amplify Voices Award for non-Canadian films went to “The Disciple” and “Night of the Kings,” with a special mention to “Downstream to Kinasha.”
Among short films, the IMDb Pro Award for best short film went to “Dustin,” the award for best Canadian short went to “Benjamin, Benny, Ben” and the Share Her Journey Award for best short film by a woman went to “Sing Me a Lullaby,” with a special mention to “O Black Hole!”
Two independent juries at TIFF, one from the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) and one from the Network for the Promotion of Asian Pacific Cinema (NETPAC) also announced prize winners. The FIPRESCI award went to the Georgian film “Beginning,” while the NETPAC prize went to “Gaza mon amour.”
Regina King, Viggo Mortensen and More Portraits From TheWrap's Virtual Toronto Studio (Photos)
Director Regina King, "One Night in Miami"
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Aldis Hodge, "One Night in Miami"
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Leslie Odom Jr., "One Night in Miami"
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Eli Goree, "One Night in Miami"
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Director Viggo Mortensen, "Falling"
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Actress Rosamund Pike, "I Care a Lot"
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Actress Eiza Gonzalez, "I Care a Lot"
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Director J Blakeson, "I Care a Lot"
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Actress Connie Britton, "Good Joe Bell"
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Director Florian Zeller, "The Father"
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Actor Amir El-Masry, "Limbo"
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Director Ben Sharrock, "Limbo"
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Actress Chloë Grace Moretz, "Shadow in the Cloud"
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Director Roseanne Liang, " Shadow in the Cloud"
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Katherine Waterston, "The Third Day"
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Director Dawn Porter, "The Way I See It"
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Directors Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart, "Wolfwalkers"
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Actress Danielle Macdonald, "Falling for Figaro"
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Director Emma Seligman, "Shiva Baby"
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Actress Rachel Sennott, "Shiva Baby"
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Actress Dianna Agron, "Shiva Baby"
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Actress Molly Gordon, "Shiva Baby"
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Actress Polly Draper, "Shiva Baby"
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Director Joel Bakan, "The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel"
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Director Jennifer Abbott, "The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel"
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Actress Jessica Barden, "Holler"
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Director Michael Dweck, "The Truffle Hunters"
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Director Gregory Kershaw, "The Truffle Hunters"
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Director Ross Stewart, "Wolfwalkers"
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Director Tomm Moore, "Wolfwalkers"
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Director Sam Pollard, "MLK/FBI"
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Director Tracey Deer, "Beans"
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Director Sonia Kennebeck, "Enemies of the State"
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Director Mira Nair, "A Suitable Boy"
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TIFF 2020: Chloë Grace Moretz, Rosamund Pike, Leslie Odom Jr. and more stop by TheWrap’s virtual studio