The past week and a half have been an absolutely fantastic ride at the Toronto International Film Festival, and as the final day nears its end, the winners of this year’s BlackBerry People’s Choice Awards have been announced.
Taking the lead with the People’s Choice Award is David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook, with a brilliant leading duo in Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper, and an all-star supporting cast headed up by Robert De Niro, Jacki Weaver, Chris Tucker, and Julia Stiles.
The film went down a treat amongst critics and audiences alike, and after Russell’s acclaimed The Fighter took home two Oscars for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo, it’s nice to see his follow-up premiering to such an excellent reception.
In the documentary category, Bartholomew Cubbins’ Artifact takes home the People’s Choice Documentary Award, premiering on Friday night to standing ovations for its fascinating look inside the music business.
Directed by Jared Leto, of 30 Seconds to Mars, under his Cubbins pseudonym, the film gives an insight into the band’s ordeal of making their best-selling album, This Is War, in the midst of being sued by their own record label for $30m. I saw the documentary on Friday night and thought it was absolutely fantastic, so be sure to check back this week for the full review.
And finally, taking home the People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award is Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths. Starring seven renowned actors in its leading roles – Colin Farrell, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Abbie Cornish, Olga Kurylenko, Tom Waits, and Christopher Walken – the film sees McDonagh reuniting with Farrell after the Oscar-nominated In Bruges, and we can’t wait for it to hit theatres.
Xavier Dolan’s Laurence Anyways has won the City of Toronto & Canada Goose Award for Best Canadian Feature Film, and will be coming to the UK next month as part of the BFI London Film Festival.
Deco Dawson’s Keep A Modest Head has taken the Award for Best Canadian Short Film.
Brandon Cronenberg’s Antiviral and Jason Buxton’s Blackbird share the SKYY Vodka Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film.
Mikael Marcimain’s debut feature, Call Girl, has come away with the International Critics’ Prize (FIPRESCI Prize) in the Discovery category.
François Ozon’s In the House has taken the International Critics’ Prize (FIPRESCI Prize) in the Special Presentations category.
Prolific Japanese director Sion Sono’s The Land of Hope has won the NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema) Award.
And Rola Nashef’s debut feature film, Detroit Unleaded, has won Grolsch Film Works Discovery Award.
It’s been a fantastic festival, with some incredible world and North American premieres made over the past week and a half, and you can catch up on all of our coverage of the festival so far. We’ve still got more reviews to come in the coming days, so be sure to keep checking back to find out what you’ve got to look forward to on the big screen in the coming months, and how well they fared in our eyes.
