And that’s a wrap. After a nearly two-week frenzy of premieres, screenings, red carpets, parties, and some extremely tired journalists (ahem), this year’s Toronto International Film Festival ends today. And, as usual, the annual fest ended both in style and with a pretty logical endpoint: a Sunday morning awards ceremony.
Right to it: This year’s winner, and the first filmmaker to take home two People’s Choice Awards, is Chloé Zhao for her “Hamnet.” (The filmmaker previously won in 2020 with her “Nomadland.”)
This year’s ceremony included the presentation of a number of awards, from the much-anticipated People’s Choice Award to a pair of brand-new accolades, the International People’s Choice Award and Best Animated Short Film.
But it’s the People’s Choice Award that draws the most attention, particularly this early in the awards season (read: really early, but still ostensibly in it). Twelve of the last 15 People’s Choice Award winners at TIFF went on to receive Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, and four of them (“The King’s Speech,” “12 Years a Slave,” “Green Book,” and “Nomadland”) actually won the award. (Last year’s winner, “The Life of Chuck,” was not released until this year.)
All feature films and series in TIFF’s Official Selection are eligible for these awards, which are (as the name implies) chosen by the audience itself. The four audience-voted awards include the People’s Choice Award, the People’s Choice Documentary Award, the People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award, and the brand-new International People’s Choice Award.
Today’s ceremony also included the presentation of various juried awards, including the Platform Award, the Best Canadian Feature Film Award, the Best Canadian Discovery Award, the NETPAC Award, and the FIPRESCI Prize, along with three short film awards (Best International Short Film, Best Canadian Short Film, and new this year, Best Animated Short Film).
Check out the full awards ceremony, which kicked off at 10 A.M. ET, below and keep reading for a complete list of award winners from the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival.
People’s Choice Award: “Hamnet” (Chloé Zhao), First runner-up: “Frankenstein” (Guillermo del Toro), Second runner-up: “Wake Up Dead Man” (Rian Johnson)
People’s Choice Documentary Award: “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue” (Barry Avrich), First runner-up: “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert” (Baz Luhrmann), Second runner-up: “You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution…” (Nick Davis)
People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award: “Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie” (Matt Johnson), First runner-up: “Obsession” (Curry Barker), Second runner-up: “The Furious” (Kenji Tanigaki)
International People’s Choice Award: “No Other Choice” (Park Chan-wook), First runner-up: “Sentimental Value” (Joachim Trier), Second runner-up: “Homebound” (Neeraj Ghaywan)
Platform Prize: “To the Victory!” (Valentyn Vasyanovych), Honorable mention: “Hen” (György Pálfi)
Best Canadian Feature Film: “Wrong Husband” (Zacharias Kunuk), Honorable mention: “There Are No Words” (Min Sook Lee)
Best Canadian Discovery Award: “Blue Heron” (Sophy Romvari), Honorable mention: “100 Sunset” (Kunsang Kyirong)
Short Cuts Award for Best International Short Film: “Talk Me” (Joecar Hanna), Honorable mention: “Agapito” (Arvin Belarmino, Kyla Danelle Romero)
Short Cuts Award for Best Canadian Short Film: “The Girl Who Cried Pearls” (Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski), Honorable mention: “A Soft Touch” (Heather Young)
Short Cuts Award for Best Animated Film: “To the Woods” (Agnès Patron)
Vimeo Staff Pick: “I Fear Blue Skies” (Salar Pashtoonyar)
NETPAC: “In Search of the Sky” (Jitank Singh Gurjar)
International Critics’ Prize (FIPRESCI Prize) Dedicated to Emerging Filmmaker: “Forastera” (Lucía Aleñar Iglesias)
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