‘The Life of Chuck’ Wins Toronto Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award
“The Life of Chuck,” director Mike Flanagan’s Stephen King adaptation starring Tom Hiddleston, has won the People’s Choice Award at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, TIFF organizers announced at an awards ceremony on Sunday.
In TheWrap’s review of the film, Chase Hutchinson called it “less of a horror film than it is an existential grappling with the end — while also being a jubilant celebration of the moments that make life worth living along the way. It’s Flanagan’s vibrant equivalent of Charlie Kaufman’s ‘Synecdoche, New York’ that finds hope and meaning in his own way just as it is one of the best modern Stephen King adaptations one could hope for.”
Unlike festivals like Cannes, Berlin, Sundance and Venice, Toronto does not give out a jury award to the festival’s top film. Instead, viewers at all public screenings are invited to vote for their favorite films on the TIFF website, with the resulting audience awards announced at the end of the festival.
The last 12 People’s Choice Award winners, and 15 of the last 16, have gone on to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards, and five of them of them – “Slumdog Millionaire,” “The King’s Speech,” “12 Years a Slave,” “Green Book” and “Nomadland” – have won the Oscar. Prior to 2008, only seven of the first 30 TIFF winners were nominated for Oscars, with “Chariots of Fire” and “American Beauty” winning both awards.
“The Life of Chuck,” which also stars Mark Hamill, Chiwitel Ejiofor and Karen Gillian, did not go into TIFF as one of the favorites for the award. It has not been high on awards radar this year, making it one of the most unexpected People’s Choice winners in recent memory. Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Perez” and Sean Baker’s “Anora,” which finished second and third in People’s Choice voting, are seen as likelier Best Picture nominees.
People’s Choice Awards were also given out in the Midnight Madness and Documentary sections. Coralie Fargeat’s “The Substance” won the Midnight Madness award, while the four-episode nonfiction series “The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal” won the doc prize.
Several other awards were chosen by TIFF juries. The Platform Award, which carries with it a $20,000 CAD prize, went to “They Will Be Dust,” which was chosen by a jury consisting of Atom Egoyan, Hur Jin-ho and Jane Schoenbrun. That jury also voted a special award to Taiwanese actress Sylvia Chang for “Daughter’s Daughter.”
Cash awards of $10,000 CAD also went to two Canadian films. The Best Canadian Feature Film Award was given to “Shepherds,” while the Best Canadian Discovery Award, which is open to all first and second features by Canadian filmmakers, went to “Universal Language.”
The international film critics association, FIPRESCI, and the Network for the Promotion of Asian Pacific Cinema, NETPAC, also gave out awards to “Mother Mother” and “The Last of the Sea Women,” respectively.
Here is the complete list of awards announced at the brunch:
People’s Choice Award: “The Life of Chuck,” Mike Flanagan
First Runner-up: “Emilia Perez,” Jacques Audiard
Second Runner-up: “Anora,” Sean Baker
People’s Choice Documentary Award: “The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal,” Mike Downie
First Runner-up: “Will & Harper,” Josh Greenbaum
Second Runner-up: “Your Tomorrow,” Ali Weinstein
Midnight Madness People’s Choice Award: “The Substance,” Coralie Fargeat
First Runner-up: “Dead Talent Society,” John Hsu
Second Runner-up: “Friendship,” Andrew De Young
Platform Jury Prize: “They Will Be Dust,” Carlos Marques-Marcet
Special Award: Sylvia Chang, “Daughter’s Daughter”
Best Canadian Feature Film: “Shepherds,” Sophie Deraspe
Best Canadian Discovery Award: “Universal Language,” Matthew Rankin
Best Canadian Discovery Honorable Mention: “You Are Not Alone,” Marie-Helene Viens, Philippe Lupien
Amplify Voices Award for Best BIPOC Canadian Feature Film:
Amplify Voices Award for BIPOC Canadian First Feature Film:
Amplify Voices Producers Award for Canadian BIPOC Trailblazer:
Short Cuts Award for Best International Film: “Deck 5B,” Malin Ingrid Johansson
Honorable Mention: “Quota,” Job Roggeveen, Joris Oprins and Marieke Blaauw
Short Cuts Award for Best Canadian Film: “Are You Scared to Be Yourself Because You Think That You Might Fail?,” Bec Pecaut
NETPAC Award: “The Last of the Sea Women,” Sue Kim
FIPRESCI Prize: “Mother Mother,” K’naan Warsame
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