The Toronto International Film Festival announced the winner of the People’s Choice Award on Sunday morning, and the top vote getter for 2025 was Chloe Zhao’s “Hamnet.” Coming in second place was Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” while third went to Rian Johnson’s “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.”.
Zhao becomes the first filmmaker to win this award in the 47 years the award has been handed out. She previously won for “Nomadland” in 2020. This is also the second third-place mention for Johnson after the last “Knives Out” movie, “Glass Onion,” placed three years ago.
In the international category, Park Chan-wook’s “No Other Choice” came in first, followed by Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value.” Neeraj Ghaywan’s “Homebound,” which still has a chance at being India’s International Film Oscar submission, came in third.
On the documentary side, Barry Avrich’s controversial “The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue” was the top vote getter. Baz Luhrmann’s “EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert” came in second, while Nick Davis’ “You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution…” rounded out the top three.
Matt Johnson’s “Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie” won the Midnight Madness category, perhaps an indictment of how much that section of the festival has pivoted in the past few years. Curry Barker’s “Obsession” came in second, while Kenji Tanigaki’s “The Furious” was third.
While none of the voters are Academy members or American Guild members (or a minuscule fraction are), since 2008, a People’s Choice Award winner has almost guaranteed a Best Picture nomination. That is, except for last year when “The Life of Chuck” won and bombed at the box office this past June, and in 2011 when Nadine Labaki‘s “Where Do We Go Now?” took the prize. Notably, over those 17 years, only five TIFF winners have gone on to win the Oscar for Best Picture. The last film to pull off both prizes was the afformentoined “Nomadland,” which was part of a digital “at-home” version of the festival.
In the juried categories, the Short Cuts Award for Best International Film, a short film honor, went to Joecar Hanna’s “Talk Me.” Arvin Belarmino and Kyla Danelle Romero’s “Agapito” was the runner-up. The Short Cuts Award for Best Canadian Short Film. went to Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowsk’s “The Girl Who Cried Pearls.” Honourable mention went to Heather Young’s “A Soft Touch.” The Short Cuts Award for Best Animated Short Film went to Agnès Patron’s “To the Wood.”
The FIPRESCI Prize, an honor determined by five international critics, was awarded to Lucía Aleñar Iglesias’s “Forastera.” The NETPAC Award, an honor for films promoting Asian Pacific Cinema, went to Jitank Singh Gurjar of India’s “In Search of The Sky (Vimukt).” Best Canadian Discovery went to Sophy Romvari’s “Blue Heron,” with Kunsang Kyirong’s “100 Sunset” receiving an honourable mention.
The Best Canadian Feature Film Award, which includes a $10,000 cash prize, went to Zacharias Kunuk’s “Uiksaringitara (Wrong Husband).” Min Sook Lee’s “There Are No Words” was the runner-up.
The Platform section celebrated its 10th Anniversary this year. Juried by Carlos Marqués-Marcet, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, and Chloé Robichaud, the winner of this section receives $20,000. Ukrainian filmmaker Valentyn Vasyanovych won the honor for “To The Victory!” while Germany’s György Pálfi earned an honorable mention for “Hen.”
The festival also confirmed the 51st edition of the Festival will take place September 10–20, 2026.
