Green Book wins Toronto fest prize

TORONTO — The Toronto International Film Festival wrapped with some surprise award wins Sunday, including Peter Farrelly’s Green Book taking the People’s Choice prize over some big titles that went into the 11day movie marathon with major hype.

The comedy-drama, which stars Mahershala Ali as a classical pianist and Viggo Mortensen as his concert-tour chauffeur across the American South in the 1960s, beat out first runner-up If Beale Street Could Talk by Barry Jenkins, and second runner-up Roma by Alfonso Cuaron.

Roma, as well as the Bradley Cooper/Lady Gaga musical romance A Star Is Born and the Neil Armstrong biopic First Man starring Ryan Gosling, arrived at TIFF with deafening buzz after stellar debuts at the Venice Film Festival.

Green Book, by contrast, made its world première at TIFF and gained momentum as critical raves and word of mouth spread from screenings that had audiences applauding multiple times throughout the film.

“Green Book just surprised everybody and came out of the woodwork,” said festival director and CEO Piers Handling.

“I think it was smart because they came in and it wasn’t overhyped, it just snuck in under the radar.”

Several previous People’s Choice winners have gone on to win the best-picture Oscar, including 12 Years a Slave, The King’s Speech and Slumdog Millionaire.

The $30,000 Canada Goose Award for best Canadian feature film went to Saguenay, Que.born Sebastien Pilote’s The Fireflies Are Gone, about a teenage girl who longs to escape from her small industrial Quebecois life.

Other winners included Wi Ding Ho’s Cities of Last Things, which won the $25,000 juried Toronto Platform Prize.

The $15,000 City of Toronto Award for best Canadian first feature film went to Katherine Jerkovic’s Roads in February.

Aalam-Warqe Davidian’s Fig Tree won the lucrative Audentia Award for best female director. That prize is worth $45,000.