‘American Fiction’ wins TIFF audience award: Next stop, the Oscars?

Cord Jefferson’s film debut “American Fiction” just bagged the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival. Since 2008, 14 of the 15 winners of the Toronto audience award have gone on to reap Best Picture bids at the Oscars. And five of those — “Slumdog Millionaire,” “The King’s Speech,” “12 Years a Slave,” “Green Book,” and “Nomadland” — won the top prize at the Academy Awards. (The exception to the rule: 2011’s “Where Do We Go Now?” from Lebanon.)

That stat certainly buoys the awards hopes of “American Fiction,” a sassy satire adapted by first-time filmmaker Jefferson from Percival Everett‘s 2001 bestseller “Erasure.” Emmy and Tony winner Jeffrey Wright plays Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, an English literature professor whose lampooning of another Black writer’s success turns into an unexpected success. Orion Pictures releases “American Fiction,” which was financed by MRC, on Nov. 3 via MGM. 

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While “American Fiction” finished first in the poll of festival goers, two other strong Oscar contenders were close behind: Alexander Payne‘s “The Holdovers,” which showcases Oscar nominee Paul Giamatti, came second while “The Boy and the Heron,” the final film from famed Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, was third. 

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