The results are in from TIFF, and the Oscar season begins. Damien Chazelle’s “La La Land” took first place, followed by runners up Garth Davis’s “Lion” and Mira Nair’s “Queen of Katwe” for the Grolsch Audience Awards.
There’s no question Toronto scored the largest number of potential awards films this year. They also showed “Birth of a Nation” and “Manchester By The Sea,” as well as films with potential acting nominations like “Loving,” “Jackie” and “Nocturnal Animals.”
There are still quite a few films no one’s seen for the Oscar race including Martin Scorsese’s “Silence,” Ted Melfi’s “Hidden Figures,” and Mike Mills’ “20th Century Women” as well as “Fences” from Denzel Washington.
The action moves now to the New York Film Festival and even the Hamptons Film Festival, before heading to London and then to the AFI where Warren Beatty’s “Rules Don’t Apply” is thrown in the ring.
But “La La Land” is clearly the front runner, much like “The Artist” a couple of years ago. It has the same vibe, and carries the same appeal to the Academy– it’s easy, it’s fun, it’s masterful, and it’s about movies.
