The Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award for Documentaries is an annual film award, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival to the film rated as the year's most popular documentary film with festival audiences. The award was first introduced in 2009;"TIFF lineup expands with horror, music". Telegraph-Journal, July 22, 2009. prior to its introduction, documentary films were eligible for the Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award, with two documentaries having won that award and six having been named as runners-up.
Although most documentaries at the festival screen in a dedicated TIFF Docs program, documentaries can also be screened in other programs. However, all documentaries are eligible for the award regardless of which program they screened in, rather than being limited exclusively to TIFF Docs titles.
After the award is announced, the festival offers a repeat screening of the winner at the TIFF Lightbox on the final day of the festival.
Unlike the main People's Choice Award for feature films, however, the documentary award does not have a similar record of being a reliable predictor of Academy Award nominations.
Process The voting process is the same as for the feature film People's Choice: at each documentary film screening, attendees are invited to vote for the film online, with voters' e-mail addresses cross-referenced against the ticket registrations to ensure that the vote cannot be manipulated by people who have not seen the film.
Winners and runners-up
Year Film Director(s) Ref2009 The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls Leanne Pooley Adam McDowell, "'Precious' awarded top prize at TIFF". Regina Leader-Post, September 21, 2009. Capitalism: A Love Story Michael Moore2010 Force of Nature: The David Suzuki Movie Sturla Gunnarsson "The King's Speech is People's Choice; Incendies voted best Canadian picture". Vancouver Sun, September 20, 2010. Nostalgia for the Light Patricio Guzman2011 The Island President Jon Shenk "Lebanese film wins TIFF's top prize; Starbuck is People's Choice runner-up". National Post, September 19, 2011. First Position Bess Kargman Pearl Jam 20 Cameron Crowe2012 Artifact Jared Leto "Silver Linings Playbook writes surprise TIFF ending". Toronto Star, September 17, 2012. Storm Surfers 3D Christopher Nelius, Justin McMillan Revolution Rob Stewart2013 The Square (Al-Midan) Jehane Noujaim Bruce Kirkland, "Slave tops TIFF winners". Toronto Sun, September 16, 2013. Hi-Ho Mistahey! Alanis Obomsawin Beyond the Edge Leanne Pooley2014 Beats of the Antonov Hajooj Kuka Bruce Kirkland, "Benedict Cumberbatch film takes audience prize at TIFF". Toronto Sun, September 15, 2014. Do I Sound Gay? David Thorpe Seymour: An Introduction Ethan Hawke2015 Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom Evgeny Afineevsky Jim Slotek, "TIFF 2015: 'Room' wins People's Choice Award". Winnipeg Free Press, September 20, 2015. This Changes Everything Avi Lewis Al Purdy Was Here Brian D. Johnson 2016 I Am Not Your Negro Raoul Peck Chris Knight, "And the winner is ...; La La Land takes bellwether award". National Post, September 19, 2016. Abacus: Small Enough to Jail Steve James Before the Flood Fisher Stevens 2017 Faces Places Agnès Varda, JR Long Time Running Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! Morgan Spurlock 2018 Free Solo E. Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin "'Green Book' boosts awards season prospects with TIFF audience award win". Screen Daily, September 16, 2018. This Changes Everything Tom Donahue The Biggest Little Farm John Chester 2019 The Cave Feras Fayyad Etan Vlessing, "Toronto: Taika Waititi's 'Jojo Rabbit' Wins Audience Award". The Hollywood Reporter, September 15, 2019. I Am Not Alone Garin Hovannisian Dads Bryce Dallas Howard2020 Inconvenient Indian Michelle Latimer Etan Vlessing, "Toronto: Chloe Zhao's 'Nomadland' Wins Audience Award". The Hollywood Reporter, September 20, 2020. No runners-up named due to the reduced lineup in light of the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto. 2021 The Rescue Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin Steve Pond, "‘Belfast’ Wins Toronto Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award". TheWrap, September 18, 2021. Dionne Warwick: Don't Make Me Over Dave Wooley, David Heilbroner Flee Jonas Poher Rasmussen 2022 Black Ice Hubert Davis Christian Zilko, "‘The Fabelmans’ Wins TIFF 2022 People’s Choice Award". IndieWire, September 18, 2022. Maya and the Wave Stephanie Johnes 752 Is Not a Number Babak Payami 2023 Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe Robert McCallum Steve Pond, "‘American Fiction’ Wins Toronto Film Festival’s Audience Award". TheWrap, September 17, 2023. Summer Qamp Jen Markowitz Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa Lucy Walker 2024 The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal Mike Downie Steve Pond, "‘The Life of Chuck’ Wins Toronto Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award". TheWrap, September 15, 2024. Will & Harper Josh Greenbaum Your Tomorrow Ali Weinstein 2025 The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue Barry Avrich Pete Hammond, "‘Hamnet’ Wins Oscar-Predictive Toronto Film Festival People’s Choice Award". Deadline Hollywood, September 14, 2025. EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert Baz Luhrmann You Had To Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love & Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (In a Canadian Kind of Way) Nick Davis 2026 Darlene Love: I Know Where I've Been Barry Avrich Pete Hammond, "‘La Bola Negra’ Wins Oscar Predictive Toronto Film Festival People’s Choice Award". Deadline Hollywood, September 20, 2026. Black Sunflowers James Marcus Haney The Ultra Runner Mila Aung-Thwin
See also Hot Docs Audience Awards Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature
References