For several years, we have seen that winners of the Toronto Film Festival always find themselves a nomination spot in the biggest category of the biggest award function on the planet.
A fan favorite at Toronto International Film Festival, Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland finally bagged what it deserved on Sunday night. The road odyssey could very well now find itself to be one of the drawing-room conversations happening all over the world as the gate for the Best Picture Award at 93rd Academy Awards is now open.
Last year’s Toronto winner Jojo Rabbit by Thor: Ragnarök famed director Taika Waititi was a big deal at last year’s Oscars. Not only did it seal a nomination in the prestigious Best Picture category but also bagged an award in the Best Screenplay. Jojo Rabbit lost the award to Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite.
In the last eight years, we have seen winners of Toronto scoring big at Academy Awards, and “Nomadland” has even increased its chances with blowing trumpets as it also won the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival, making itself the first-ever film in the history of the cinema to bag the award prizes at both the film festivals.
A very strong social message was also delivered by TIFF as it made all the winners a film directed by a woman. Regina King’s “One Night in Miami” was the runners up(Another strong contender considered by Oscar pundits to win the nomination and even receive the Best Picture awards at Oscars). “Beans” (Tracy Deer) was the second runner up. People’s Choice Award in the documentary category was won by Michelle Latimer for “Inconvenient Indian.” Roseanne Liang’s “Shadow in the Cloud” was the one chosen for the People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award.
Cameron Bailey, the Artistic director of TIFF and co-head hailed the ongoing year’s TIFF as the one to never forget. He said that in the pandemic hit year, people from cinema came together to celebrate the truest sense of storytelling for the broader audience as the festival saw many great stories that not only gave hope for the future but also gave voice to the underrepresented voices in the society. He thanked everyone who became part of the festival through video conferencing and expressed a feeling of pride and honor to be a part of an achievement that TIFF has achieved this year despite the turbulent atmosphere of the world.
“Nomadland” will be distributed domestically by Searchlight on December the 4th, 2020.
source: Nomadland Secures a People’s Choice Award at 2020 TIFF
