‘La Bola Negra’ wins TIFF People’s Choice Award

Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s “La Bola Negra” has won the People’s Choice Award at the 51st Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), placing the Spanish drama among the films attracting attention ahead of the upcoming Academy Awards.

The winners were announced on Sunday, with Peter Farrelly’s “I Play Rocky” securing the first runner-up position and Sian Heder’s “Being Heumann” finishing as second runner-up.

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“La Bola Negra” follows three generations of men whose lives are connected through desire, pain and love. The film is Spain’s official submission for the International Feature Film category at the Oscars and is scheduled for a theatrical release through Netflix on October 16.

Both runners-up come from filmmakers whose previous works have received Academy Awards recognition. Farrelly directed “Green Book”, which won the TIFF People’s Choice Award in 2018 before securing the Oscar for Best Picture. Heder directed “CODA”, which also won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Other awards announced at the festival included the International People’s Choice Award, which went to Simon Stone’s “Elsinore”. Barry Avrich’s “Darlene Love: I Know Where I’ve Been” received the Documentary People’s Choice Award, while “Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney” won the Midnight Madness People’s Choice Award.

Voted on by festival audiences since 1978, the People’s Choice Award has frequently been associated with films that later achieved success at the Academy Awards.

Previous recipients that went on to win Best Picture include “Nomadland”, “Green Book”, “12 Years a Slave”, “The King’s Speech”, “Slumdog Millionaire”, “American Beauty” and “Chariots of Fire”.

Other past winners, including “American Fiction”, “The Fabelmans”, “Belfast”, “Jojo Rabbit”, “La La Land” and “The Imitation Game”, subsequently received Best Picture nominations.

This year also marks a change to the festival’s Platform Award, with its winner becoming automatically eligible for consideration in the Oscars’ International Feature Film category without requiring an official submission from its home country.

The Platform Prize went to Indian filmmaker Theja Rio’s “Angh”, making it eligible for consideration in the international feature film race.

India has yet to announce its official submission for the category.