Martin McDonagh’s black comedy “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missiori,” starring Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell, has won the People’s Choice Award at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF organizers announced at an awards ceremony on Sunday.
The ceremony came on the final day of the 42nd annual festival, which began on Sept. 7.
Runners-up for the top award were Craig Gillespie’s “I, Tonya” and Luca Guadagnino’s “Call Me by Your Name.”
The People’s Choice Documentary Award went to Agnes Varda and JR’s “Faces Places,” with runner-up awards given to Morgan Spurlock’s “Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken” and Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier’s “Long Time Running.”
The People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award was won by Joseph Kahn’s rap-battle movie “Bodied,” with James Franco’s “The Disaster Artist” finishing as first runner-up and Craig Zahler’s “Brawl in Cell Block 99” landing the second runner-up prize.
In the Platform section, whose 12 selections included Mike White’s “Brad’s Status,” Armando Iannucci’s “The Death of Stalin” and Nabil Ayouch’s “Razzia,” the winner of a jury prize was Warwick Thornton’s “Sweet Country.” Clio Barnard’s “Dark River” won the honorable mention award.
The award for the best Canadian film in the festival went to Robin Aubert’s “Les Affames,” while the best Canadian first feature award was given to “Luk’Luk’I” by Wayne Wapeemukwa.
The Toronto People’s Choice Award is open to each one of the 255 features that played Toronto, including Guillermo del Toro’s “The Shape of Water,” Alexander Payne’s “Downsizing,” George Clooney’s “Suburbicon,” Joe Wright’s “Darkest Hour,” Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’ “Battle of the Sexes,” Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird,” Dee Rees’ “Mudbound” and Darren Aronofsky’s “mother!”
Three TIFF audience winners have gone on to win the Oscar for Best Picture over the last 10 years: “12 Years a Slave” in 2013, “The King’s Speech” in 2010 and “Slumdog Millionaire” in 2008. Two others won before that: “American Beauty” in 1999 and “Chariots of Fire” in 1981. Other recent Toronto winners include “Silver Linings Playbook,” “The Imitation Game,” “Room” and last year’s choice, “La La Land,” which was thought to be the Oscar frontrunner until “Moonlight” scored an unexpected victory.
The more than 470,000 audience members cast ballots by depositing their ticket stubs as they leave the theater or by voting online using the TIFF app. The winners are the films that received the largest percentage of votes from the total audience that saw the film at its public screenings in Toronto.
The winners:
Grolsch People’s Choice Award: “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” Martin McDonagh
Runners-up: “I, Tonya,” Craig Gillespie; “Call Me by Your Name,” Luca Guadagnino
People’s Choice Documentary Award: “Faces Places,” Agnes Varda and JR
Runners-up: “Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken,” Morgan Spurlock; “Long Time Running,” Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas De Pencier
People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award: “Bodied,” Joseph Kahn
Runners-up: “The Disaster Artist,” James Franco; “Brawl in Cell Block 99,” S. Craig Zahler
Platform Prize: “Sweet Country,” Warwick Thornton
Honorable Mention: “Dark River,” Clio Barnard
Best Canadian Feature Film: “Les Affames,” Robin Aubert
Honorable Mention: “The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches,” Simon Lavoie
Best Canadian First Feature: “Luk’Luk’I,” Wayne Wapeemukwa
Honorable Mention: “Ava,” Sadaf Foroughi
International Critic (FIPRESCI) Prize for Special Presentations: “The Motive,” Manuel Martin Cuenca
International Critic (FIPRESCI) Prize for Discovery Program: “Ava,” Sadaf Foroughi
NETPAC Award for Best Asian Film: “The Great Buddha+,” Huang Hsin-Yao
Short Cuts Award for International Short Film: “The Burden,” Niki Lindroth von Bahr
Honorable Mention: “A Gentle Night,” Qiu Yang
Short Cuts Award for Canadian Short Film: “Pre-Drink,” Marc-Antoine Lemire
Honorable Mention: “The Tesla World Light,” Matthew Rankin