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'La Bola Negra' wins TIFF's People Choice
Award, putting it on Oscar path
[September 21, 2026] By
JAKE COYLE
“La Bola
Negra,” the Spanish queer epic about the intertwined lives of three gay
men, won the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film
Festival on Sunday, confirming its status as a major Oscar contender.
TIFF's top
award is voted on by festivalgoers, and it's become known as one of the
most iron-clad Academy Awards predictors. Since 2012, all but one winner
of the People's Choice Award has gone on to score a best-picture
nomination at the Oscars. The lone exception was in 2024, when Mike
Flanagan's Stephen King adaptation “The Life of Chuck” won the award.
Last year, “Hamnet” won it and later landed eight Oscar nominations. |
Director Javier Ambrossi, left, and Javier Calvo attend the premiere of
"La Bola Negra" at the Princess of Wales Theatre during the Toronto
International Film Festival on Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in Toronto.
(Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP) |
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“La
Bola Negra” is directed by the duo known as Los Javis — Javier
Ambrossi and Javier Calvo. It was already a hit at the Cannes
Film Festival, where “La Bola Negra” split the best director
award with Paweł Pawlikowski for “Fatherland.”
Netflix acquired “La Bola Negra” out of Cannes and has launched
a full awards campaign for the film. Netflix is also giving the
film its longest theatrical release yet for the streamer. “La
Bola Negra” opens in theaters Oct. 16 and begins streaming Dec.
2.
“This is a deeply personal film but it also carries a message of
the importance and necessity of expressing who you are,” the
Javis said in a statement Sunday. “Knowing that audiences
connected with it and made it their own is the greatest gift we
could receive.”
The first runner-up for the TIFF award was “I Play Rocky,” Peter
Farrelly's comedy about the making of “Rocky.” Second runner-up
was “Being Heumann,” Siân Heder's drama about disability rights
pioneer Judy Heumann.
The festival also awards a People's Choice Award for
international films. That went to “Elsinore,” starring Andrew
Scott as Ian Charleson, the Scottish actor who performed
“Hamlet” in London while suffering from AIDS. The first
runner-up was “Possible Love,” Lee Chang-dong’s Korean drama
about the trauma of mass layoffs. Second runner-up was “The
Assassin(s),” a Korean procedural by Hur Jin-ho.
“Darlene Love: I Know Where I've Been,” a portrait of the
85-year-old vocalist, won TIFF's People's Choice Award for
documentary. The festival's audience award for its Midnight
Madness section went to “Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney,”
a so-called “gonzo documentary” by Matthew Rankin about the
former Canadian prime minister.
The 51st edition of TIFF draws to a close Sunday.
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