Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award

if anything deserves a win, it's this

... uh, TIFF People's Choice winner, The Crowd.

Yes, yes.

The audiences at Toronto were absolutely wowed by this movie.

It's funny, at both, uh, uh, most festivals it plays at, it, it, La Bola Negra is, like, a late-breaking success where people see it and they're like, "Oh, this, this is, this is winning hands down." Like, it, it wins people's hearts and minds, uh, always by the end of the festival, you know? So.

[laughs]

Oh, 100%, and that's something that can't be discounted either, because with the TIFF People, uh, TIFF People's Choice, it's historically usually a premiere at the festival.

Yeah.

It boldly reimagines Federico García Lorca's unfinished play with an extravagant film about Spain's history of political and homophobic persecution that spans three stories and timeframes, revealing unexpected connections as they explore love, sexuality, repression, and the legacy of Spain's past.

It has since attracted a slew of key nominations and awards, including the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival and the GIO Audience Award at the 2026 Sydney Film Festival.

It's also Spain's submission for Best International Feature at the 2027 Oscars.

Now, our guest today, Milo Quifes, plays Carlos in the film's first story, set in the early 1930s.

It won Best Director-- It tied for Best Director prize.

Uh, it won the TIFF People's Choice Award, which is-

Mm-hmm

... you know, a, a, a pretty big deal.

... which is where it had its premiere, that people were just going nuts for it.

But it was a runner-up to La Bola Negra, uh, which could have won the international one, but it basically got the most votes of any title, so it wins the main People's Choice Award, which is a huge feather in that movie's cap.

It wasn't a world premiere.

It had been at Cannes already, but premiered late at Cannes, so TIFF was kind of its first big scale festival experience like that.

What's that about again? This is, this won the International People's Choice.

So LaBolda Negro won People's Choice Award at TIFF, which is the top award.

The International People's Choice Award went to Elsinore, which is Andrew Scott playing an actor whose name I don't remember, who was a famous theater actor who died of AIDS.

And so the movie is, I guess, follows this man's journey through that illness and also as he prepares to play Hamlet.

Ah, yes, I'm looking at it now.

Yeah, that's a good point.

I think La Bola Negra is feeling like the international film this year.

Interestingly, Elsinore won the International People's Choice Award at TIFF, but isn't even eligible for the international category at the Oscars because it's British.

Uh, big question.

Now that we have the People's Choice winners from Toronto, um, do you think, uh, the runners up will play a big factor as much as we think? Um, such as I Play Rocky being a strong contender.

Um, I know we all have a grudge against Peter Farrelly since Green Book." I don't have a grudge against Peter Farrelly, I have a grudge against the Oscars for giving that piece of shit a Best Picture Oscar.

Um-

Yes

... uh, where, uh, La Bola Negra won the, uh, uh, Audience Award, and is really positioning itself, seems to be, seems to be positioning itself as a very strong Best Picture contender, and all-around contender at this year's Oscars.

Um, I'm curious, um, so what was, what was your reaction to, uh, uh, La Bola Negra winning the People's Choice Award, and what were some of your favorites that are looking, that are looking to be serious Oscar contenders?

So I was at that first public screening of La Bola Negra at TIFF, and I had to rush out of that theater at the end to get to my next movie, so I did not see the full extent of the audience response to it.

That's an interesting place to sort of start, which is that I do think...

I had an experience with TIFF of, I guess I wasn't really interacting with the people as much as I thought, because I saw the results of the TIFF People's Choice Awards and went, really? These ones? So, ripping the band-aid off, the People's Choice winner was La Bola Negra.

This is a movie that we're going to be talking about for the next five, six months.

I feel like everybody kind of knows.

I would argue a movie that has one of the greatest endings in the history of movies.

That just sends you out on a high note.

So I'm not surprised that if you get out of that movie, you immediately go on your phone and vote for it for the People's Choice Award.

That being said, do I think that this is changing anything about the race? No, I do not.

But just schedule didn't work out for it.

And that was the actually winner of the People's Choice documentary.

And that was Darlene Love.

I know where I've been.

Like, you see if you look back at this category's history, you will see a number of TIFF world premieres here, and both of these movies were TIFF world premieres, and they also had a number of screenings.

So anyone can vote for the People's Choice Award at TIFF, but they have a system in place where they will check the email account that you use to vote and whether or not you actually attended a screening.

So it benefits you to play frequently at the festival, and both of these films did, and I think have that right...

I mean, I haven't seen either of them yet, but just knowing what I know about Sean Heder's films and the topic here, you know, it's about a disability rights activist.

And I Play Rocky, Rocky is a really, it's an inspirational story, so I can see why audiences also probably connected with that.

So that makes sense.

I think what I'm curious about, so you have Peter Farrelly, who won the People's Choice Award for Green Book a few years ago now.

Whether or not I Play Rocky will be a priority for MGM Amazon or if they will stay strong with Project Hail Mary, and what Being Human's place in the awards race is also from someone who has won Best Picture in Sean Heder.