Martin McDonough’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri has won the 42nd Toronto International Film Festival’s Grolsch People’s Choice Award.

“Oh boy, this is thrilling,” McDonough said in a written message. “You never know if your film has connected with people. This is brilliant that is has.”

In other key awards handed out on Sunday afternoon (17), Warwick Thornton’s Sweet Country claimed the Toronto Platform Prize, while Joseph Kahn’s Bodied won the Grolsch People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award. Agnès Varda and JR’s Faces Places took the Grolsch People’s Choice Documentary Award.

The City Of Toronto Award For Best Canadian First Feature Film went to Wayne Wapeemukwa’s Luk’ Luk’l, and Robin Aubert’s Les Affamés won the Canada Goose Award For Best Canadian Feature Film.

Full list of winners:

The Grolsch People’s Choice Award

Winner: Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

The festival will present a free screening of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri at Roy Thomson Hall at 6pm on Sunday evening.

First runner-up: Craig Gillespie’s I, Tonya. Second runner-up: Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name

The Grolsch People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award

Winner: Joseph Kahn’s Bodied.

In a message sent to the ceremony, Kahn said, “You are all beautiful motherfuckers. Thank you to everyone for helping me turn this into a film I couldn’t imagine making.”

First runner-up: James Franco’s The Disaster Artist. Second runner-up: Craig Zahler’s Brawl In Cell Block 99

The Grolsch People’s Choice Documentary Award

Winner: Agnès Varda and JR’s Faces Places

First runner-up: Long Time Running by Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas De Pencier. Second runner-up: Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken!

International Jury Awards

Toronto Platform Prize 

Winner: Warwick Thornton’s Sweet Country
Special mention: Clio Barnard’s Dark River.

Thornton said, “We make films about our past. I am indigenous, I needed to get this out there. There is an alternate history to what we see. For all of us to go forward, we need to understand the past. We can make better decisions. I am very thankful for this. This is a small genesis in me becoming a filmmaker.”

New this year, the festival presents a free screening of Toronto Platform prize-winner Sweet Country at TIFF Bell Lightbox on September 17.

FIPRESCI awards

Winner – Discovery: Sadaf Foroughi’s Ava

Winner – Special Presentations: Manuel Martín Cuenca’s The Motive (El Autor).

Foroughi said, “I wish for gender equality, peace for everyone, and more humanity, transparency, and freedom for all.”

NETPAC AWARD

Winner: Huang Hsin-Yao’s The Great Buddha+

Short film jury awards

IWC Short Cuts Award For Best Canadian Short Film

Winner: Marc-Antoine Lemire’s Pre-Drink

IWC Short Cuts Award For Best Short Film

Winner: Niki Lindroth von Bahr’s The Burden (Min Börda)

Honourable mentions to Matthew Rankin’s The Tesla World Light (Tesla: Lumière Mondiale) and Qiu Yang’s Xiao Cheng Er Yue (A Gentle Night).

Canadian Film Jury Awards

City Of Toronto Award For Best Canadian First Feature Film

Winner: Wayne Wapeemukwa’s Luk’ Luk’l
Honourable mention to Sadaf Foroughi’s Ava.

Canada Goose Award For Best Canadian Feature Film

Winner: Robin Aubert’s Les Affamés

Honourable mention to Simon Lavoie’s The Little Girl Who Was Too Fond of Matches (La Petite Fille Qui Aimait Trop Les Allumettes).

Tiffany Pritchard contributed to this report.