‘La Bola Negra’ wins People’s Choice Award at Toronto International Film Festival

In Toronto, the film "La Bola Negra" directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi has claimed the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. The award, often a precursor to Oscar buzz, is given to the movie best loved by festival-goers. "La Bola Negra" centers on the lives of three gay men in Spain. Other notable winners include "Angh," which took home the Platform Award – a prize that now allows winners to directly compete for the Academy Awards.

The Platform Award also offers a chance to win a $20,000 cash prize. For the first time, the award recognizes films from diverse languages, with "Angh" being mostly in Konyak. In the Best Canadian Discovery category, Cody Lightning won for his directorial debut "Smudge the Blades." Lightning paid tribute to his late mother, both a filmmaker and his greatest source of inspiration.

"Sunburn" by Serville Poblete secured the Best Canadian Feature award, a coming-of-age story about Toronto's Bleecker Street youth. "Elsinore," directed by Simon Stone, was named the winner of the International People's Choice Award. "Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney" by Barry Avrich claimed the Midnight Madness title for a satirical comedy about the former Canadian Prime Minister.

Barry Avrich also secured the NETPAC Award for the Palestinian film "Thirteen in Gaza," which follows a 13-year-old refugee girl in Gaza. The FIPRESCI Prize, given to a first-time international filmmaker, went to David Turpin for "Ancestors," a film about an Irishman in London during the 1980s when homosexuality was still illegal in Ireland.