Yes indeed, over at the Toronto Film Festival the audience award has been announced, something I always look forward to learning about each year. The expectation was that the winner would be one of the many Oscar hopefuls playing to acclaim and that this boost would fuel it going into the soon approaching precursor season (previous winners include Slumdog Millionaire and most recently The King’s Speech). Well, things didn’t exactly turn out that way at all, as you can see here from The Hollywood Reporter:
-Attendees of the Toronto International Film Festival have voted to award the 2011 Cadillac People’s Choice Award, the festival’s highest honor, to Nadine Labaki‘s Where Do We Go Now?, a Lebanese drama, that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival back in May, and is still seeking domestic distribution.
Where Do We Go Now? prevailed over a number of other popular options including Jonathan Levine‘s 50/50, Michel Hazanavicius‘s The Artist, Jim Field Smith‘s Butter, Alexander Payne‘s The Descendants, Nicolas Winding Refn‘s Drive, Jennifer Westfeldt‘s Friends with Kids, Luc Besson‘s The Lady, Bennett Miller‘s Moneyball, Dee Rees‘s Pariah, Oren Moverman‘s Rampart, Steve McQueen‘s Shame, and Jeff Nichols‘sTake Shelter.
I’m not going to lie, I’m very surprised by this. Granted, I wasn’t expecting something like Shame to take the prize, but I had thought that The Artist was easily the favorite, with something like 50/50 or The Descendants also being well in play, with even Take Shelter waiting in the wings. So much for that…
-Thoughts?
Related Stories:
6 Comments












Having seen almost none of the films that played at Toronto – including Where Do We Go Now? – I’m very pleased with this choice *on principle.* There’s something inspiring and egalitarian about a little-known Lebanese drama beating out several “Oscar contenders” for a major festival award, especially since film festivals are too often seen nowadays as nothing more than a barometer of Academy appeal instead of as a chance for precisely the kind of movie that Nadine Labaki premiered to find an audience. Unlike financial markets, uncertainty is a good thing in the awards season, and films like The Descendants and The Artist can survive spreading the wealth around to smaller fare without a distributor.
Plus, I’d argue that this does bring into focus one aspect of the Oscars: Best Foreign Language Film. It is Lebanon’s official submission this year, and People’s Choice Winners have produced several champs in that category including Tsotsi and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Robert Hamer(Quote) (Reply)
Indeed. Makes the race better, but our jobs harder.
Joey Magidson(Quote) (Reply)
Wow…just wow. I could do the research but this has not been picked up yet, right? Although I’m sure Sony Pictures Classics is dispatching their team as we speak if this film is still a “free agent.” Still…kudos on the choice and its nice to have a shake up and surprise this early on!
Michael Ward(Quote) (Reply)
I believe you’re right…
Joey Magidson(Quote) (Reply)
What do you think of Butter’s Oscars chances now?
John(Quote) (Reply)
Pretty much dead.
Joey Magidson(Quote) (Reply)