'12 Years A Slave' Film With Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender Wins People's Choice Award At The TIFF; 'Philomena', 'Prisoners' With Hugh Jackman Announced As Runners-Up
"12 Years A Slave," a heartbreaking drama directed by Steve McQueen, was the audience favorite at the recently-concluded Toronto International Film Festival. The film received the Blackberry People's Choice Award at the event's Sunday brunch, which concluded the 11-day festival.
"It's pretty special," Brad Pitt said in a previous interview with Variety. "It's one of those rare moments where story, performance and storytelling come together at the level. We're very proud of it."
The 49-year old actor is a producer of the autobiographical film through his Plan B production outfit. He also appears in the movie as Samuel Bass, a sympathetic Canadian carpenter.
"12 Years a Slave" features: Chiwetel Ejiofor as Solomon Northup, a free black man kidnapped and sold as a slave; Michael Fassbender as the cruel plantation owner Edwin Epps; Benedict Cumberbatch as William Ford, Northup's first owner; Paul Dano as John Tibeats; Paul Giamatti as Theophilus Freeman; and Lupita Nyong'o as Patsey, another slave on the Epps plantation. It is scheduled to be released on October 18.
Awarded as first runner-up was Stephen Frears' Philomena, a drama starring Judi Dench as Philomena Lee and Steve Coogan as Martin Sixsmith; and the second runner-up went to Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners, a crime/ thriller starring Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Paul Dano.
The TIFF website lists the following winners:
The Blackberry People's Choice Award
Winner: Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave
First runner-up: Stephen Frears' Philomena
Second runner-up: Denis Villeneuve's Prisoners
The Blackberry People's Choice Documentary Award
Winner: Jehane Noujaim's The Square
First runner-up: Alanis Obomsawin's Hi-Ho Mistahey!
Second runner-up: Leanne Pooley's Beyond the Edge
The Blackberry People's Choice Midnight Madness Award
Winner: Sion Sono's Why Don't You Play in Hell?
First runner-up: Mike Flanagan's Oculus
Second runner-up: Alex de la Iglesia's Witching & Bitching
International Critics' Prize(Fipresci Prize) - Special Presentation
Pawel Pawlikowski's Ida
International Critics' Prize(Fipresci Prize) - Discovery
Claudia Sainte-Luce's The Amazing Catfish
City of Toronto and Canada Goose Award for Best Canadian Feature Film
Alan Zweig's When Jews were Funny
Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film
Shayne Ehman and Seth Scriver's Asphalt Watches
YouTube Award for Best Canadian Short Film
Walter Woodman and Patrick Cederberg's Noah
Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema (NETPAC)
Anup Singh's Qissa
Groisch Film Works Discovery Award
Gia Milani's All The Wrong Reasons
Watch the trailer of 12 Years a Slave: