TORONTO – Chloé Zhao’s film Hamnet has won the top People’s Choice Award at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival, adding another major honour for the two-time Academy Award-winning director.
Adapted from Maggie O’Farrell’s acclaimed novel, the film presents a fictionalised account of William Shakespeare and his wife, Agnes, focusing on their relationship and the grief they endure after the death of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet. Paul Mescal plays Shakespeare, while Jessie Buckley stars as Agnes.
Zhao accepted the award via video link, thanking audiences and reflecting on the power of storytelling to create connection. She said she began writing and drawing stories as a young person to feel less alone, sharing her work online to see how strangers responded. “Whether they liked them or not, I felt connected, and the world seemed a little less lonely,” she said.
Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein was named first runner-up for the audience award, followed by Rian Johnson’s Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.
Hamnet is scheduled for a limited release in the United States on November 27, ahead of its worldwide release on December 12.
