JOANA VICENTE

A drama about an undocumented nanny in New York City, a documentary about three exiled dissidents from Tiananmen Square and another doc about Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny have won top prizes at the Sundance Film Festival.

Filmmakers Denis Villeneuve and Alanis Obomsawin are among those being honored at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

The Toronto International Film Festival is planning an extensive in-person festival in September, a year after turning to virtual red carpets and outdoor screenings because of the pandemic.

This image released by Searchlight Pictures shows Frances McDormand in a scene from the film "Nomadland" by Chloe Zhao. (Searchlight Pictures via AP)After picking up Venice's Golden Lion award, Chloé Zhao’s “ Nomadland " has won another prestigious honor: The Toronto International Film Festival's People's Choice Award. Zhao's film features Frances McDormand as a widowed wanderer of the modern American West. Set for a Dec. 4 release, “Nomadland” has already been hailed as a top Oscar contender, but winning the audience award at TIFF is promising for its Oscar chances. Other People's Choice winners include Michelle Latimer's documentary “Inconvenient Indian," about Indigenous peoples in North America, and Roseanne Liang's midnight madness selection “Shadow in the Cloud," with Chloë Grace Moretz.

This year, three of the four major fall film festivals, including Venice, are going forward despite the pandemic. This year, three of the four major fall film festivals all but Telluride, which had to cancel are going forward despite the pandemic. For a season predicated on badge-wearing throngs and marquee movies, its meant rethinking what a film festival is. A situation like this forces you to assess what is fundamental, says Dennis Lim, director of programming for the New York Film Festival. Anyone in Canada will be able to buy tickets to TIFF screenings, and New York Film Festival films will be briefly available nationwide.