‘Belfast’ Wins Toronto Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award

Kenneth Branagh’s black-and-white drama “Belfast” has received the People’s Choice Award on the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF introduced on Saturday.

The light drama, which is predicated on Branagh’s childhood rising up in Northern Ireland, received over Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson’s “Scarborough,” a narrative of three low-income kids that completed second, and Jane Campion’s revisionist Western “The Power of the Dog,” which completed third.

In its overview of the movie from TIFF, TheWrap wrote, “Visually stunning, emotionally wrenching and gloriously human, ‘Belfast’ takes one short period from Branagh’s life and finds in it a coming-of-age story, a portrait of a city fracturing in an instant and a profoundly moving lament for what’s been lost during decades of strife in his homeland of Northern Ireland.”

Other movies in competitors for the award included “Dear Evan Hansen,” “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” and “The Guilty.”

In the 13 years since “Slumdog Millionaire” received in 2008, the TIFF winner has gone on to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar 12 instances and has received that award 5 instances, together with “Nomadland” final yr. But within the 30 years previous to 2008, TIFF winners included solely two Oscar winners and 5 further nominees.

This yr, the pageant consisted of each in-person and on-line screenings – however to be eligible for the People’s Choice Award, a movie was required to have each sorts of screenings. A number of of the highest-profile titles on the pageant – notably Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune,” Edgar Wright’s “Last Night in Soho” and Pablo Larrain’s “Spencer,” together with the Cannes hits “A Hero” and “Memoria” – opted to not have digital screenings and weren’t eligible for the People’s Choice Award.

All voting for the award was performed on-line.

In the documentary class, the People’s Choice winner was “The Rescue,” E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s movie concerning the 2018 Thai cave rescue of a youth soccer group, with “Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over” and “Flee” taking runner-up spots. In the Midnight Madness part, the Cannes Palme d’Or winner “Titane” beat out “You Are Not My Mother” and “DASHCAM” for the highest prize.

The winner was introduced through the TIFF Tribute Awards on Saturday night. Also at that largely pre-recorded ceremony, actor Riz Ahmed, head of the jury for the Platform Prize, introduced that Kamila Andini’s Indonesian movie “Yuni” received the award as the very best movie of that eight-film part. The Platform jury selected from a gaggle of movies that additionally included Laurent Cantet’s “Arthur Rambo,” Hany Abu-Assad’s “Huda’s Salon” and Scott McGehee and David Siegel’s “Montana Story.”

Additional awards had been introduced earlier on Saturday by the unbiased NETPAC and FIPRESCI juries. NETPAC, the Network for the Promotion of Asian Pacific Cinema, chosen Mounia Akl’s “Costa Brava, Lebanon” for its prime prize, whereas FIPRESCI, the International Federation of Film Critics, selected Emre Kayis’ “Anatolian Leopard.”   

The awards:

People’s Choice Award: “Belfast,” Kenneth Branagh
First Runner-up: “Scarborough,” Shasha Nakhai and Rich Williamson
Second Runner-up: “The Power of the Dog,” Jane Campion

People’s Choice Documentary Award: “The Rescue,” E. Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin
First Runner-up: “Dionne Warwick: Don’t Make Me Over,” Dave Wooley and David Heilbroner
Second Runner-up: “Flee,” Jonas Poher Rasmussen

Midnight Madness People’s Choice Award: “Titane,” Julia Ducournau
First Runner-up: “You Are Not My Mother,” Kate Dolan
Second Runner-up: “DASHCAM,” Rob Savage

Platform Jury Prize: “Yuni,” Kamila Andini
Honorable Mention: “Mlungu Wam” (“Good Madam”), Janna Cato Bass

Shawn Mendes Foundation Changemaker Award: “Scarborough”

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