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Cord Jefferson’s “American Fiction,” a biting satire starring Jeffery Wright as a upset instructional, has gained the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, a much-watched bellwether within the Oscar race.
“American Fiction” is the directorial debut of Jefferson, the veteran TV writer of “Watchmen” and “Succession,” and an adaptation of Percival Everett’s 2001 novel “Erasure.” The movie, about an creator who resents that the literary trade is best all in favour of “Black books” that cater to the stereotypes of white audiences, emerged as a breakout hit at TIFF.
Toronto’s target audience award winner, voted on by means of pageant attendees, has traditionally just about at all times signified a best-picture contender at the Academy Awards. Since 2012, each and every People’s Choice winner at TIFF has long gone on to attain a best-picture nod. In 2018, when “Green Book” won, it announced the film as a surprise awards contender. (Peter Farrelly’s film went on to win best picture at the Oscars.) Last year, Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” won Toronto’s top prize.
First runner-up went to Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers,” starring Paul Giamatti as a curmudgeonly boarding school teacher tasked with staying with a handful of students over Christmas break in the 1970s. Second runner-up was Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron,” the long-awaited latest Studio Ghibli film from the Japanese anime master.
“American Fiction,” which MGM will release in theaters Nov. 3, co-stars Sterling K. Brown, Issa Rae and Tracee Ellis Ross. In an interview, Jefferson said he immediately connected with Everett’s book.
“I was having the exact same conversations with Black colleagues in both professions: Why are we always writing about misery and trauma and violence and pain inflicted on Blacks?” said Jefferson. “Why is this what people expect from us? Why is this the only thing we have to offer to culture?”
The Toronto International Film Festival, which wraps Sunday, was diminished this year due to the ongoing actors and writers strikes. Red-carpet premieres were mostly without movie stars, detracting from some of the buzz that the largest film festival in North American typically generates. It followed a similarly strike-affected Venice Film Festival, where the festival’s top prize, the Golden Lion, went to Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things.” (That film skipped TIFF.)
The People’s Choice winner for documentary went to Robert McCallum’s “Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe” and the midnight madness award went to Larry Charles’ “Dicks: The Musical.” The pageant’s juried pageant awards got to Tarsem Singh Dhandwar’s “Dear Jassi,” winner of the Platform phase, and Meredith Hama-Brown’s “Seagrass,” which took the FIPRESCI award from global critics.
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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
