"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: