The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) is officially coming to a close. Now that the prize winners have been announced, the Oscar race feels officially on. As Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans has won the 2022 TIFF People’s Choice Award as voted on by the festival’s audience. Sarah Polley’s Women Talking was the first runner-up and Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery was the second runner-up.

The win gives The Fabelmans a big head start in the Oscar race, where it had already been a bit of an early frontrunner due to the caliber both behind and in front of the camera. The correlation between the TIFF People’s Choice Award Winner and a Best Picture nomination is a big one. Every film that has one the prize since 2008 with the exception of one, Nadine Labaki’s Where Do We Go Now?, has been nominated and five have won the top Oscar prize, 2008’s Slumdog Millionaire, 2012’s The King’s Speech, 2013’s 12 Years a Slave, 2108’s Green Book and 2020’s Nomadland.

While the Oscar race is truly just starting to shape out, this gives a strong indication to keep The Fabelmans at the top of your predictions. One also cannot help but notice Women Talking placing in the Top 3 for the Audience Prize might indicate the divisiveness rumored by some may not be a strong as they were hinting at.

Here is the full list of TIFF 2022 winners:
TIFF 2022 People’s Choice Award Winner: Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans
First Runner-up: Sarah Polley’s Women Talking
Second Runner-up: Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery

TIFF 2022 People’s Choice Documentary Award: Hubert Davis’ Black Ice First
Runner-up: Stephanie Johnes’ Maya and the Wave
Second Runner-up: Babak Payami’s 752 Is Not A Number

TIFF 2022 People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award: Eric Appel’s Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
First Runner-up: Ti West’s Pearl
Second Runner-up: Tim Story’s The Blackening

2022 Platform Prize: Anthony Shim’s Riceboy Sleeps

Amplify Voices Award for Best Canadian Feature Film: Nisha Pahuja’s To Kill A Tiger
Special Mention: Stéphanie Lafleur’s Viking
Amplify Voices Award: Martika Ramirez Escobar’s Leonor Will Never Die
Amplify Voices Award: Vinay Shukla’s While We Watched
Special Mention for Best Feature from an Emerging BIPOC Filmmaker:Madison Thomas’ Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On

IMDbPro Short Cuts Award for Best Film: Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir’s Snow In September
IMDbPro Short Cuts Award for Best Canadian Film: Aziz Zoromba’s Simo
IMDbPro Short Cuts Share Her Journey Award: Carol Nguyen’s Nanitic

International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Prize: Basil Khalil’s A Gaza Weekend
Network for the Promotion of Asia Pacific Cinema (NETPAC) Award: Jub Clerc’s Sweet As