The Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award for Midnight Madness is an annual film award, presented by the Toronto International Film Festival to the film rated as the year's most popular film in the festival's "Midnight Madness" stream of underground and cult films. The award was first introduced in 2009."TIFF lineup expands with horror, music". Telegraph-Journal, July 22, 2009.
After the award is announced, the festival offers a repeat screening of the winner at the TIFF Lightbox on the final day of the festival.
Process The voting process is the same as for the feature film People's Choice: at each film screening, attendees are invited to vote for the film online, with voters' e-mail addresses cross-referenced against the ticket registrations to ensure that the vote cannot be manipulated by people who have not seen the film.
Winners and runners-up Year Film Director(s) Ref2009 The Loved Ones Sean Byrne Adam McDowell, "'Precious' awarded top prize at TIFF". Regina Leader-Post, September 21, 2009. Daybreakers Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig2010 Stake Land Jim Mickle "The King's Speech is People's Choice; Incendies voted best Canadian picture". Vancouver Sun, September 20, 2010. Fubar 2 Michael Dowse2011The Raid Gareth Evans "Lebanese film wins TIFF's top prize; Starbuck is People's Choice runner-up". National Post, September 19, 2011. You're Next Adam Wingard God Bless America Bobcat Goldthwait2012 Seven Psychopaths Martin McDonagh "Silver Linings Playbook writes surprise TIFF ending". Toronto Star, September 17, 2012. The Bay Barry Levinson John Dies at the End Don Coscarelli2013 Why Don't You Play in Hell? Sion Sono Bruce Kirkland, "Slave tops TIFF winners". Toronto Sun, September 16, 2013. Oculus Mike Flanagan Witching and Bitching Álex de la Iglesia2014 What We Do in the Shadows Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement Bruce Kirkland, "Benedict Cumberbatch film takes audience prize at TIFF". Toronto Sun, September 15, 2014. Tusk Kevin Smith Big Game Jalmari Helander 2015 Hardcore Henry Ilya Naishuller Jim Slotek, "TIFF 2015: 'Room' wins People's Choice Award". Winnipeg Free Press, September 20, 2015. The Final Girls Todd Strauss-Schulson Green Room Jeremy Saulnier 2016 Free Fire Ben Wheatley Chris Knight, "And the winner is ...; La La Land takes bellwether award". National Post, September 19, 2016. The Autopsy of Jane Doe André Øvredal Raw Julia Ducournau 2017 Bodied Joseph Kahn The Disaster Artist James Franco Brawl in Cell Block 99 S. Craig Zahler 2018 The Man Who Feels No Pain Vasan Bala "'Green Book' boosts awards season prospects with TIFF audience award win". Screen Daily, September 16, 2018. Halloween David Gordon Green Assassination Nation Sam Levinson 2019 The Platform Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia Etan Vlessing, "Toronto: Taika Waititi's 'Jojo Rabbit' Wins Audience Award". The Hollywood Reporter, September 15, 2019. The Vast of Night Andrew Patterson Blood Quantum Jeff Barnaby 2020 Shadow in the Cloud Roseanne Liang Etan Vlessing, "Toronto: Chloe Zhao's 'Nomadland' Wins Audience Award". The Hollywood Reporter, September 20, 2020. No runners-up named due to the reduced lineup in light of the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto. 2021 Titane Julia Ducournau Steve Pond, "‘Belfast’ Wins Toronto Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award". TheWrap, September 18, 2021. You Are Not My Mother Kate Dolan Dashcam Rob Savage 2022 Weird: The Al Yankovic Story Eric Appel Christian Zilko, "‘The Fabelmans’ Wins TIFF 2022 People’s Choice Award". IndieWire, September 18, 2022. Pearl Ti West The Blackening Tim Story 2023 Dicks: The Musical Larry Charles Steve Pond, "‘American Fiction’ Wins Toronto Film Festival’s Audience Award". TheWrap, September 17, 2023. KILL Nikhil Nagesh Bhat Hell of a Summer Finn Wolfhard, Billy Bryk 2024 The Substance Coralie Fargeat Steve Pond, "‘The Life of Chuck’ Wins Toronto Film Festival’s People’s Choice Award". TheWrap, September 15, 2024. Dead Talents Society John Hsu Friendship Andrew DeYoung 2025 Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie Matt Johnson Pete Hammond, "‘Hamnet’ Wins Oscar-Predictive Toronto Film Festival People’s Choice Award". Deadline Hollywood, September 14, 2025. Obsession Curry Barker The Furious Kenji Tanigaki 2026 Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney (Mesdames et messieurs, Brian Mulroney) Matthew Rankin Pete Hammond, "‘La Bola Negra’ Wins Oscar Predictive Toronto Film Festival People’s Choice Award". Deadline Hollywood, September 20, 2026. The Spiral (L'estranea) Paolo Strippoli Arrested Memory Sabu
See also Midnight film Underground film Cult film
References