Toronto wrap-up

Now the Toronto International Film Festival has ended and the results are known, It’s time to post a follow up to my post Toronto: Generating Oscars Buzz. One of the films that did especially well on the festival was David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises. The movie won the much coveted people's choice award, which is considered an Oscar indicator. The movie, starring Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen tells us about good and evil, family values, respect and leadership in the London underworld of Russian mobsters. One of the scenes (a bathhouse death struggle) is already being talked about as an instant classic.

The second place in the race for the People's Choice award wet to Jason Reitman's Juno. It's the story of a pregnant high school teen told in the language of high school comedy. 20-year-old actress Ellen Page, also known from the film Hard Candy, plays the main role.

Third place in the People's Choice race went to the anti-Iraq documentary Body of War. It came as a complete surprise that this film, directed by Phil Donahue won this award, for this was not anticipated by the response the movie generated.

Another true festival hit, Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg, won best Canadian film. In the film, Maddin reveres and satirizes both a long tradition of Canadian documentary filmmaking and his hometown (Winnipeg).

The international film critics'prize was awarded to a Mexican film, La Zona, directed by first-timer Rodrigo Pla.
The Argentinean director Anahi Berneri went home with the artistic innovation prize for his film Encarnacion, about a B-movie actress returning to her prudish small town.

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