Although the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) drew to a close last Sunday, September 16, this year brought with it some truly remarkable films and unforgettable moments. Here’s a brief look at the highlights of TIFF 2018.

Possible Oscar Contenders

The popularity of a film at festivals like TIFF is often a great indicator of a film’s chances at the Academy Awards. In particular, the recipient of the TIFF’s Grolsch People’s Choice Award often receives notable recognition at the Oscars: past winners of the Grolsch award include American Beauty, Slumdog Millionaire, The King’s Speech, Silver Linings Playbook, 12 Years A Slave, The Imitation Game, and La La Land.

This year, the Grolsch People’s Choice Award went to Peter Farrelly’s Green Book, starring Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali, and Linda Cardellini. The road trip comedy-drama is based on the true story of Don Shirley’s 1962 tour of the southern states of America, and audiences at TIFF fell in love with the film. Green Book is almost guaranteed a nomination for Best Picture at the Oscars this year – in the past decade, every winner of the People’s Choice Award has gone on to secure a Best Picture nomination, if not a win.

While Green Book certainly deserved its win, it came as a shock to many people that Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born didn’t steal the title. A Star Is Born was undoubtedly one of the most hyped-up films at TIFF this year – it is not only expected to earn a nomination for Best Picture, but for Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress as well. While this is Cooper’s directorial debut and Lady Gaga’s first major Hollywood role, A Star Is Born is already a major success despite not yet being available in wide-release.

Following his Academy Award-winning film Moonlight, director Barry Jenkins made a serious impact at TIFF with his film If Beale Street Could Talk. The film is an adaptation of James Baldwin’s novel of the same name, that tells a “tale of love in a time of racial injustice.” Set to screen at the New York Film Festival in early October, and to be available in wide-release on November 30, If Beale Street Could Talk will undoubtedly generate excitement as the year goes on, moving right into award season in February 2019.

Though there are countless other films that that will undoubtedly make a splash at the Oscars this year, other TIFF contenders for the coveted Best Picture nomination include Damien Chazelle’s First Man, the biographical film of astronaut Neil Armstrong; Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, which follows a middle-class family living in 1970s Mexico City; and Joel Edgerton’s Boy Erased, in which the gay son of a Baptist pastor is pressured into attending conversion therapy.

Overlooked Films

With hundreds – quite literally, hundreds – of films being screened at TIFF every year, it becomes easy for some truly remarkable ones to become lost in the buzz of the bigger, star-studded films.

One of my personal favourite films from this year’s TIFF lineup was Annabel Jankel’s Tell It to the Bees, starring Anna Paquin and Holliday Grainger. Adapted from Fiona Shaw’s 2009 novel of the same name, Tell It to the Bees follows two women who fall in love in a small town in 1950s Scotland. Facing judgement, shunning, and abuse from their friends, family, and neighbours, the women must try to keep their lives together, while navigating their ostracized relationship with each other. Tell It to the Bees tells a beautiful, albeit dark story, with a well-written script, gorgeous production design, and stunning cinematography.

The final film of late conservationist Rob Stewart, Sharkwater Extinction is a thrilling documentary that seeks to expose the illegal shark-finning industry. Stewart died while filming the documentary in January of 2017, and the project was finished by his production team after his untimely death. The film brings attention to the killing of sharks, and fights to stop shark finning before they become extinct. According to TIFF’s description of Sharkwater Extinction, “over 100 million sharks (yes, you read that right) are killed every year. The world’s shark population has decreased by 90 percent in the last 30 years. An entire species — and a cornerstone of our ecosystem — hangs in the balance.”

It is often the case that phenomenal documentaries are overlooked at film festivals – and Maxim Pozdorovkin’s The Truth About Killer Robots is proof of that. This documentary follows cases in which robots or artificial intelligence (AI) systems have been responsible for causing the deaths of human beings – from self-driving cars, to police droids, to factory automation. However, Pozdorovkin does not showcase the bad without the good. This documentary also considers the possible benefits of living in a machine-driven world, in which robots and AIs function as replacements for many service-sector jobs. This film was insightful, fascinating, and compelling, even if it wasn’t at the top of TIFF’s buzzworthy film list.

If documentaries interest you, a few other personal favourites from TIFF 2018 include Shannon Service and Jeffrey Waldron’s Ghost Fleet, which tackles the issue of Thai men being kidnapped and forced to work on fishing vessels; and Tom Donahue’s This Changes Everything, which discusses the #MeToo movement, and sexism in Hollywood.

What were your favorite films of TIFF 2018? What was overrated or over-hyped? What was underrated and deserves more credit? Let us know in the comments below!