Martin McDonagh's comic drama wins at Toronto Film Festival

Martin McDonagh’s "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" won the Grolsch People’s Choice Award, giving the film a boost ahead of the upcoming awards season.

(L-R) Sam Rockwell, Frances McDormand, Martin McDonagh and Graham Broadbent attend the Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri premiere during the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival at Ryerson Theatre on September 11, 2017 in Toronto, Canada.
AFP

(L-R) Sam Rockwell, Frances McDormand, Martin McDonagh and Graham Broadbent attend the Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri premiere during the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival at Ryerson Theatre on September 11, 2017 in Toronto, Canada.

Director Martin McDonagh’s comic drama, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, won the award for audience favourite at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday.

Frances McDormand plays a grieving mother frustrated with the police’s lack of progress in finding her daughter’s killer. 

The film, which screened in Venice earlier and is set for wide release later this year, won the Grolsch People’s Choice Award.

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Craig Gillespie’s I, Tonya, about US figure skater Tonya Harding, and Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name, a coming-of-age romance about forbidden love, were the runners-up.

Past audience winners and runners-up in Toronto have gone on to win or become best-picture Oscar nominees, solidifying the Toronto festival’s reputation as a launching pad for films that go on to receive critical acclaim.

Past winners and runners-up include Spotlight, 12 Years A Slave, The King’s Speech and La La Land.

Other winners at this year’s festival included Faces Places for the audience’s favourite documentary. 

Warwick Thornton’s Sweet Country won the festival’s Platform prize, selected by a panel of filmmakers.

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