TIFF WINNER MAY BE OSCAR BAIT

Is Kenneth Branagh's Belfast off to the Oscars? That would seem to be the case after the film took the People's Choice Award Saturday night at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The TIFF People's Choice Award has long been an Academy Awards bellwether. For the past nine years, every TIFF audience pick has gone on to garner at least one nomination for best picture, with three — 12 Years a Slave, Green Book and last year's Nomadland — taking the top prize at the Oscars.

Shot in black and white, Belfast is the story of a boy growing up in Northern Ireland during the violent period known as The Troubles, as Branagh himself did. Jude Hill stars as nine-year-old Buddy, while Jamie Dornan plays his father.

“The audience award, it's amazing,” Branagh said in response to the prize.