Cord Jefferson’s ‘American Fiction’ Wins People’s Choice At Toronto International Film Festival

Cord Jefferson’s “American Fiction” has won the People’s Choice prize at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The satire about race and personal agency was announced as the winner during a TIFF awards breakfast this morning, concluding 11 days of in-person film screenings and celebrations.

The film stars Jeffrey Wright as an African-American novelist grappling with an industry that is limiting his work to trauma and poverty narratives.

The People’s Choice award is determined through online voting and is frequently considered a harbinger of success at the Academy Awards.

Last year’s winner was Steven Spielberg’s coming-of-age ode to cinema, “The Fabelmans.”

Meanwhile, the People’s Choice documentary award went to “Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe,” about beloved children’s performer Ernie Coombs, directed by Robert McCallum.