Green Book wins top prize in Toronto

If Beale Street Could Talk and Roma are runners-up

by Amber Wilkinson

Mortensen and Ali in Green Book
Mortensen and Ali in Green Book Photo: Courtesy of Toronto Film Festival

Peter Farrelly's Green Book has won the People's Choice audience award at Toronto Film Festival.

The film, which stars Oscar winner Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortenson, is set in the Sixites. It tells the story of a black classical musician and the driver who takes him on a tour of the Deep South.

The festival prize is seen as marking out films to watch in awards season, with every winner of the accolade since 2012 going on to be nominated for an Oscar. Previous winners of the Academy for Best Film and the Toronto prize include The King's Speech and Slumdog Millionaire.

The second prize went to Barry Jenkins' adaptation of James Baldwin's If Beale Street Could Talk, about a woman striving to prove her fiance's innocence.

Third prize went to Alfonso Cuarón's semi-autobiographical Roma - which will screen at San Sebastian, New York and London Film Festival in the coming months, before being available to stream on Netflix.

Additional award winners are below:

People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award: The Man Who Feels No Pain, Vasan Bala

People’s Choice Documentary Award: Free Solo, E Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin

FIPRESCI Prize for Discovery: Float Like A Butterfly, Carmel Winters

FIPRESCI Prize for Special Presentations: Skin, Guy Nattiv

Eurimages Audentia Award for Best Female Director: Aäläm-Wärqe Davidian, Fig Tree

NETPAC Award: The Third Wife, Ash Mayfair

Toronto Platform Prize: City of Last Things, Wi Ding Ho

City of Toronto Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film: Roads In February, Katherine Jerkovic

Canada Goose Award for Best Canadian Feature Film: The Fireflies Are Gone, Sebastien Pilote

Best Canadian Short Film: Brotherhood, Meryam Joobeur

Best Short Film: The Field, Sandhya Suri

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