The 2018 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has come to a close with a surprise Grolsch People’s Choice Award winner in Peter Farrelly’s The Green Book. Our five attendees missed that one (it played late in the week), but we were able to collectively see almost 100 other titles. We’ve used a weighted ranking of our individual favorites in order to compile a consensus with everyone’s top pick worth ten points, second pick nine points, and so on.

Our vote for “best of the fest” is Barry Jenkins’ Groslch People’s Choice First Runner-Up If Beale Street Could Talk. It proved a runaway winner by appearing on four of our five lists (with three first place votes). The Groslch Second Runner-Up (Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma) also makes our list with a first-place vote of its own.

All eleven of our picks (there were two sets of ties) have already secured US distribution (in 2018 and 2019), so you will be able to watch them on Blu-Ray/VOD if they don’t make it to WNY theaters. See below for everyone’s full lists (10 or fewer).

GWNYFCA’s Top Ten Films from the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival:

01. If Beale Street Could Talk (39)
d. Barry Jenkins (opens 11/30/18)
02. Widows (24)
d. Steve McQueen (opens 11/16/18)
03. Shoplifters (17)
d. Hirokazu Koreeda (opens 11/23/18)
04. A Star Is Born (16)
d. Bradley Cooper (opens 10/5/18)
05. Can You Ever Forgive Me? (15)
d. Marielle Heller (opens 10/19/18)
06. First Man (13)
d. Damien Chazelle (opens 10/12/18)
07. (tied) Roma (10)
d. Alfonso Cuarón (hits Netflix on 12/14/18)
07. (tied) Vox Lux (10)
d. Brady Corbet (opens 12/7/18)
09. Aniara (9)
d. Pella Kågerman & Hugo Lilja (opens in 2019)
10. (tied) Ben Is Back (8)
d. Peter Hedges (opens 12/7/18)
10. (tied) Transit (8)
d. Christian Petzold (opens in 2019)

Adam Lubitow
1. Roma
2. If Beale Street Could Talk
3. Widows
4. A Star Is Born
5. Three Faces
6. First Man
7. Consequences
8. In Fabric
9. Boy Erased
10. High Life

Jared Mobarak
1. If Beale Street Could Talk
2. Aniara
3. First Man
4. The Third Wife
5. Capernaum
6. Let Me Fall
7. Can You Ever Forgive Me?
8. The Most Beautiful Couple
9. Giant Little Ones
10. Skin

Matthew Passantino
1. Vox Lux
2. Widows
3. Ben Is Back
4. Hotel Mumbai
5. Can You Ever Forgive Me?
6. Gloria Bell

Christopher Schobert
1. If Beale Street Could Talk
2. A Star Is Born
3. Shoplifters
4. Widows
5. Burning
6. Mid90s
7. Can You Ever Forgive Me?
8. In Fabric
9. Nonfiction
10. Destroyer

Jordan M. Smith
1. If Beale Street Could Talk
2. Shoplifters
3. Transit
4. In My Room
5. Free Solo
6. What You Gonna Do When the World’s On Fire?
7. What Is Democracy?
8. High Life
9. Our Time
10. Non-Fiction

Header image by Connie Tsang, courtesy of TIFF.