La La Land becomes Oscars frontrunner after taking Toronto International Film Festival 2016's Peoples Choice Award
Other winners include Ben Wheatley’s Free Fire and the Natalie Portman starring Jackie
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Your support makes all the difference.La La Land continues its award-winning spree at the Toronto International Film Festival, taking the festival’s top prize, the People’s Choice Award, further improving the film’s chances at the Oscars.
Damien Chazelle’s musical - which has attracted rave reviews from critics and Tom Hanks - premiered at the Venice Film Festival, where Emma Stone won the Coppa Volpi for best actress.
Previous winners of TIFF’s top honour include Oscar best picture winners American Beauty, Slumdog Millionaire, The King's Speech, and 12 Years a Slave.
Garth Davis’s first feature length film Lion - starring the likes of Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman, and Rooney Mara - came runner-up, while Mira Nair’s Queen of Katwe came in third.
The Midnight Madness Award - which features numerous genre films - went to Ben Wheatley’s comedy Free Fire, with the ‘feminist cannibal thriller’ Raw coming in second.
Pablo Larrain’s Jackie took home the prestigious Platform Prize, the film centring on Natalie Portman’s version of Jacqueline Kennedy and the events that followed her husband’s assassination.
Other notable wins include Raoul Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro taking the best documentary award and Raymund Ribay Gutierrez’s Imago winning best short film.
Meanwhile, La La Land director Damien Chazelle has explained just how he filmed the jaw-dropping traffic jam dance number, seen in the film’s opening minutes.
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