NEW YORK (AP) – The top award of the 40th Toronto International Film Festival went to Lenny Abrahamson’s “Room,” an emotional tale of a captive mother and her five-year son.
The film took the festival’s People’s Choice award, determined by audience voting, on Sunday. Starring Brie Larson and 8-year-old Jacob Tremblay, “Room” is adapted from Emma Donoghue’s 2010 novel.
Toronto’s audience award has previously been a harbinger of awards season success. Past winners include “12 Years a Slave” and “The King’s Speech.”
Runner-up went to Tom McCarthy’s “Spotlight,” a newspaper procedural about the Boston Globe’s investigative reporting on sexual abuse by Catholic priests.
READ MORE: Rolling Stone Magazine Named ‘Respect’ #1 Song Of All TimeThe prize for the festival’s inaugural Platform sidebar of international films was awarded to Alan Zweig’s “Hurt,” a documentary about Canadian cancer hero Steve Fonyo.
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