12 Years a Slave increased its chances at Oscar recognition with an important win at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. The dramatic film has been generating awards buzz and could find Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender joining director Steve McQueen on the short list of Oscar nominees. And winning the People’s Choice award, as voted on by festival attendees, is a significant step on the path to Oscar glory.
Other winners at this year’s Toronto Film Festival include The Square and Why Don’t You Play In Hell.
Toronto Film Festival Winners:
BlackBerry People’s Choice Award
12 Years a Slave directed by Steve McQueen
Runner up: Philomena directed by Stephen Frears
Second runner up: Prisoners directed by Denise Villeneuve
BlackBerry People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award
Why Don’t You Play in Hell? (Jigoku de Naze Warui) directed by Sion Sono
Runner up: Oculus directed by Mike Flanagan
Second runner up: Witching & Bitching directed by Álex de la Iglesia
BlackBerry People’s Choice Documentary Award
The Square directed by Jehane Noujaim
Runner up: Hi-Ho Mistahey! directed by Alanis Obomsawin
Second runner-up: Beyond the Edge directed by Leanne Pooley
YouTube Award for Best Canadian Short Film
Noah directed by Walter Woodman and Patrick Cederberg
Honorable mentions: Kevan Funke’s Yellowhead and Fraser Munden & Neil Rathbone’s The Chaperone 3D
City of Toronto + Canada Goose Award for Best Canadian Feature Film
When Jews Were Funny directed by Alan Zweig
Special citation: Jennifer Podemski, Cara Gee and Shay Eyre for Empire of Dirt
Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film
Asphalt Watches directed by Shayne Ehman and Seth Scriver
Honorable mention: Afflicted
Prize of the International Critics (FIPRESCI) for Special Presentations
Ida directed by Pawel Pawlikowski
Prize of the International Critics (FIPRESCI) for the Discovery Programme
The Amazing Catfish directed by Claudia Sainte-Luce
NETPAC Award for World or International Asian Film Premiere
Qissa directed by Anup Singh
Grolsch Film Works Discovery Award
All the Wrong Reasons directed by Gia Milani
RBC Emerging Filmmakers Competition
Requiem for a Robot directed by Christoph Rainer
Honorable mention: Tales of Santa Fe directed by Dan Popa and Destroyer directed by Kevan Funk
