La Bola Negra wins TIFF's People's Choice Award

La Bola Negra, starring Penelope Cruz and Glenn Close, has won the People's Choice Award at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival, one of the most closely watched prizes of the autumn film season.

The film is directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, the Spanish filmmaking pair. It is the first Netflix film to win the festival's top prize.

Chosen by audiences

Unlike most film festival awards, the People's Choice Award is decided by the public. Festival-goers vote for their favourite film, which makes the award a useful early guide to which films will connect with audiences.

La Bola Negra finished ahead of the runners-up, I Play Rocky and Being Heumann.

An Oscars signal

The award has a strong record as an early indicator of success at the Academy Awards. Many recent winners have gone on to earn a nomination for Best Picture, and several have won it, which is why studios pay close attention to the Toronto result.

For Netflix, the win is a significant moment. The streaming service has invested heavily in awards campaigns in recent years, and a People's Choice victory gives La Bola Negra momentum heading into the rest of the season.

Other winners

Among the festival's other honours, the Platform Prize, which is given to a film in Toronto's juried Platform programme for bold and original filmmaking, went to Angh, from India.

About the festival

The Toronto International Film Festival, known as TIFF, is one of the largest public film festivals in the world. Held each September, it launches many of the films that go on to compete for the major awards the following spring, and its audiences include critics, industry figures and film fans from across Canada and beyond.