La La Land wins Toronto Film Festival prize

Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling previously starred together in Crazy, Stupid, Love

Musical movie La La Land has picked up the prestigious People's Choice award at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

The jazz film is the follow up to director Damien Chazelle's Academy Award-winning film Whiplash.

The People's Choice, voted for by the audience, has proved to be a decent predictor for Oscars success in recent years.

Previous winners include 12 Years a Slave and The King's Speech.

La La Land, set for release in December, stars Stone as an aspiring actress in Los Angeles who meets a jazz pianist (Gosling) who is trying to stay true to the music he has devoted himself to.

The film also stars singer John Legend and JK Simmons, who won an Oscar for best supporting actor for his performance in Whiplash.

Stone and Gosling bring back the golden age of Hollywood musicals in La La Land

La La Land has enjoyed rave reviews since premiering at the Venice Film Festival in August.

Chazelle wrote the script six years ago but was not able to persuade anyone to make it until he broke through with Whiplash in 2014.

Stone, who won the best actress prize at Venice for her La La Land role, previously starred with Gosling in Crazy, Stupid, Love.

Toronto's Platform prize for international directors was won by Pablo Larrain for Jackie, the Jacqueline Kennedy biopic starring Natalie Portman.

Raoul Peck won the People's Choice documentary award for I Am Not Your Negro, which follows the lives and assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X and Medgar Evers.

The film is based on James Baldwin's unfinished book, Remember This House.