Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis), left, has dinner with his imaginary friend Adolf (writer/director Taika Waititi), and his mother, Rosie (Scarlett Johansson) in a handout photo from the film Jojo Rabbit.Kimberley French/The Canadian Press
Jojo Rabbit has won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The Nazi satire, set during the Second World War, follows a German boy who is grappling with the reasons his mother is hiding a young Jewish girl in their attic.
Director Taika Waititi, who also wrote the film, plays a cartoonish version of Adolf Hitler who’s the boy’s imaginary friend.
The $15,000 People’s Choice prize is sponsored by Grolsch. The honour is often a predictor of Academy Award success.
Several previous People’s Choice winners have gone on to pick up the best-picture Academy Award, including last year’s Green Book, 12 Years a Slave, The King’s Speech and Slumdog Millionaire.
Even People’s Choice picks that grab the top Oscar often wind up major players in the awards race. Recent winners La La Land, Room and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri all scooped up trophies at other major awards events, including the Golden Globes.
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