At the Toronto International Film Festival, “La Bola Negra” won the People’s Choice Award while “Angh” secured the Platform Award and a pathway to Oscars eligibility.
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“La Bola Negra,” an epic film about the interconnected lives of three gay men in Spain, captured the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday.
The win capped TIFF’s final day of the 11-day festival, which screened 294 films and marked its 51st edition. The People’s Choice Award is often viewed as a bellwether for broader awards season momentum, and the prize was one of a dozen announced Sunday.
Directors Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, collectively known as “Los Javis,” were not at the ceremony to accept the award. In a note read by Cameron Bailey, the festival CEO, the directors said the film’s significance lies in how important it is to express who you are, adding that audience connection was the greatest gift.
Bailey said the directors were in Spain promoting the film. He also described TIFF’s festival experience as a success, stating on the red carpet after the announcement that the TIFF audience remained strong and came out in large numbers.
“La Bola Negra” stars Penélope Cruz, Glenn Close and Miguel Bernardeau, and had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in spring. At Cannes, the film won the best director prize, tied with Paweł Pawlikowski for “Fatherland,” according to the report.
Sunday’s awards also included “Angh,” which won the Platform Award, a jury prize that carries a $20,000 purse. Directed by Theja Rio, “Angh” is described as a story about the last surviving chief of a Nagaland village on the Indo-Burma border.
Rio said on the red carpet that his goal was to make a film about where he comes from and to tell a story so that voices from his background are heard. He added that being at TIFF and receiving the Platform Award was a dream come true, while acknowledging the Oscars opportunity remains far off.
For the first time, the Platform Award offers a direct route to the Academy Awards. Previously, the Academy only accepted one submission from each country for best international feature, but this year it expanded its criteria to also consider winners of qualifying awards at international film festivals.
Eligibility for best international feature still involves additional requirements. The report notes that at least half of a film must be in a language other than English, and that “Angh,” which is mostly in Konyak, qualifies for consideration.
Other Canadian winners highlighted the festival’s focus on emerging talent. Best Canadian Discovery, recognizing a first- or second-time director, went to Cody Lightning for his sophomore feature “Smudge the Blades.” Lightning accepted the award after describing a heavy heart, saying his mother—also a filmmaker—died several weeks earlier and dedicating the recognition to her.
Best Canadian feature went to “Sunburn” by Serville Poblete, a coming-of-age film about a group of kids from Toronto’s Bleecker Street neighbourhood. The awards also included international People’s Choice selections, with “Elsinore” winning the International People’s Choice Award for Simon Stone and “Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney” taking Midnight Madness.
The festival’s documentary and international competition prizes continued the range of programming. Barry Avrich’s “Darlene Love: I Know Where I’ve Been” won for documentary, marking Avrich’s second straight win; last year, he won the same prize for “The Road Between Us,” a documentary about a retired Israeli general’s rescue mission on Oct. 7, 2023.
The FIPRESCI Prize, described as going to a first-time international filmmaker, was awarded to “Ancestors” by Irish writer-director David Turpin, a film about an Irishman in London during the 1980s, when homosexuality was still illegal in Ireland. NETPAC, recognizing movies from Asia and the Pacific, went to “Thirteen in Gaza” by Hosam Abu Dan, a Palestinian film about a 13-year-old girl living in a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.
Together, Sunday’s awards show how TIFF’s audience-driven People’s Choice results and the jury-selected Platform Prize can influence awards-season pathways. For Canadian viewers, the announcements also underline the festival’s continued role in spotlighting both international hits and Canadian filmmakers at different stages of their careers.
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