The Tragically Hip: No Dress Rehearsal is the top doc of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival according to festival audiences. The four-part series directed by Mike Downie won the People’s Choice Award for Documentary, as noted in a release from TIFF. No Dress Rehearsal helped get the festival off to a thunderous start as it kicked off the Primetime programme on opening day. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave the doc a shout-out while addressing the audience at TIFF’s opening night gala of Nutcrackers, saying the doc was Canadian film at its best. No Dress Rehearsal chronicles the legacy of The Tragically Hip from its foundational days in Kingston to present and its enduring impact on Canadians.
The first runner-up for the People’s Choice Award for Documentary is Will & Harper. Directed by Josh Greenbaum, the film offers a humorous road trip with comic Will Ferrell with longtime friend and former Saturday Night Live writer Harper Steele following her trasition. Will & Harper proved an audience favourite at Sundance earlier this year, and the TIFF citation bodes well for the doc ahead of its Netflix launch heading into awards season.
The second runner-up for documentary is Your Tomorrow. Directed by Ali Weinstein, the observational doc captures the significance that Ontario Place holds for Torontonians and offers an effective portrait of the fight for public space in changing cities. The doc has its world premiere at TIFF.
The overall People’s Choice Award winner went to Mike Flanagan’s dark comedy Life of Chuck with Jacques Audiard’s narco musical Emilia Pérez and Sean Baker’s Anora winning the runner-up spots. The Demi Moore body horror flick The Substance, directed by Coralie Fargeat, won the People’s Choice Award for Midnight Madness.
On the juried front, Matthew Rankin’s comedy Universal Language won the Canadian Discovery Award presented to a director with a first or second feature at the fest. Universal Language is Canada’s official submission in the Oscar race for Best International Feature. The Best Canadian Feature Award, presented by Canada Goose to a director on their third feature or above went to Sophie Deraspe’s Shepherds. Deraspe won the prize in 2019 for Antigone.
Also winning in the doc front is Sue Kim’s The Last of the Sea Women, which scored the NETPAC Award, which recognizes a film from the Asian or Pacific region.
