Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans wins People's Choice prize at TIFF

Steven Spielberg's semi-autobiographical The Fabelmanshas won the People's Choice prize at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The coming-of-age ode to cinema was announced the winner during a TIFF awards breakfast on Sunday morning, capping 10 days of in-person film-going and festivities.Canadian films also saw a strong showing at the ceremony, with Riceboy Sleepswinning the prestigious Platform Prize.

Billed as the legendary director's most personal project to date, The Fabelmansmarked Spielberg's TIFF debut.

"As I said onstage the other night, above all I'm glad I brought this film to Toronto," Spielberg said in a statement shared during the awards presentation.

"The warm reception from everyone in Toronto made my first visit to TIFF so intimate and personal for me and my entire 'Fabelman' family."

WATCH | Official trailer for The Fabelmans:

The People's Choice prize, chosen through online votes, is often seen as a predictor of Academy Award success.

Last year's winner was Kenneth Branagh's Northern Ireland-set family drama Belfast.

In the vein of Belfastand Roma,The Fabelmansis an auteur filmmaker's retelling of his own childhood and the family dynamics that shaped him.

WATCH | Steven Spielberg gets personal for his film The Fabelmans:

Steven Spielberg gets personal on the red carpet for his new film The Fabelmans

2 years ago

Duration 1:03

The 75-year-old director, and his frequent collaborator Tony Kushner, tell reporters about Spielbergs TIFF debut, a coming-of-age story about his upbringing in postwar Arizona.

Set in mid-century Arizona, the drama stars Michelle Williams and Paul Dano as the parents of teenage cinephile Sammy Fabelman, while Seth Rogen takes on the role of a close family friend.

Among the previous People's Choice winners that have nabbed best picture are Nomadland,Green Book,12 Years a Slave,The King's Speechand Slumdog Millionaire.

The first runner-up for this year's prize was Canadian filmmaker Sarah Polley's adaptation of Miriam Toews's novel Women Talking,which centres on a remote religious community grappling with how to respond to a serial problem of sexual abuse.

The second runner-up was Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,Rian Johnson's star-studded followup to his 2019 TIFF hit about the adventures of drawling detective Benoit Blanc, played by Daniel Craig.

International jury choosesRiceboy Sleeps

Vancouver writer-director Anthony Shim's breakout second feature Riceboy Sleepswas honoured with the Platform Prize, chosen by an international jury headed by Canadian filmmaker Patricia Rozema.

In announcing the winner of the $20,000 prize, Rozema said Riceboy Sleepsstood out among the diverse field of international contenders for its "deeply moving story" about navigating a "specifically Canadian version of racism."

Set in the 1990s, the film explores the ruptures that form between a South Korean single mom and her teenage son as they start anew in Canada.

As he took to the stage to accept the award, Shim choked back tears at he thanked his mother and little sister "who always believed that I could do things like this, even at my lowest points."

In an interview after the ceremony, Shim said it was "surreal" to receive so much acknowledgement for a story that means so much to him.

"I just figured that the smartest thing I could do making this film is to be as personal as I can," said Shim. "To bare as much as my own self and my heart into this and hopefully that will help this film not become redundant and find its own life."

Hubert Davis's documentary honoured

Oscar-nominated Canadian filmmaker Hubert Davis's Black Ice,which looks at how anti-Black racism has shaped hockey, picked up the People's Choice Documentary Award.

"We would like to thank all the players who opened up their stories to us in order to try and make meaningful change in the game of hockey," Davis said in a statement read at the ceremony.

"This journey to uncover often untold stories of the Black contribution to not only hockey but this country is just beginning. And we are honoured this film can play a small role in contributing to that conversation."

Canadian-Italian filmmaker Luis De Filippis's debut featureSomething You Said Last Nighttook the Shawn Mendes Foundation's Changemaker Award, which comes with a $10,000 cash prize. The Canadian-Swiss drama follows a young transgender woman who accompanies her family on vacation.

The Amplify Voices Award for Best Canadian Feature Film, worth $10,000, went to Toronto-raised director Nisha Pahuja's documentary To Kill a Tiger,about a farmer in India who is fighting for justice in the gang rape of his 13-year-old daughter.