Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet earned the Toronto Film Festival’s highly coveted people’s choice award, bolstering its Oscars chances.

Zhao is the first director to win the award twice, coming after her 2020 victory for Nomadland, which went on t win Best Picture, Director, and Actress.

Since the Academy expanded the best picture field in 2009, TIFF Audience Award winners have become reliable Oscar barometers.

Films such as “Green Book” (2018) and “Nomadland” (2020) went on to claim the top prize, while others like “The Fabelmans” (2022) factored into awards season.

Only one winner, “Where Do We Go Now?” (2011), failed to secure a best picture nom.

Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein” was the first runner-up for the Canadian prize, which was followed by Rian Johnson’s “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery” in the third place spot.

The audience prize for documentary went to The Road Between Us: The Ultimate Rescue from Barry Avrich.

The Toronto Film Fest’s 50th edition was one of its starriest in years.

And though there may not have been the splashy sales that TIFF had been known for, several films could still land distribution, including Soderbergh’s “The Christophers,” Mona Fastvold’s “The Testament of Ann Lee,” and Daniel Roher’s “Tuner,” which garnered strong reviews from critics.