SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK Wins TIFF Audience Award

David O. Russell‘s Silver Linings Playbook got a boost in the Oscar race as was named the top audience prize winner in Toronto on Sunday.

The idiosyncratic blend of comedy and drama went on to become a sleeper hit at TIFF which took everyone by surprise.

A perfectly calibrated comedy which stars Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence has won the BlackBerry People’s Choice Award – contenders included Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, Ben Affleck’s Argo, the Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer’s Cloud Atlas and Terrence Malick’s To the Wonder.

The other big winner was the ultra-violent black comedy Seven Psychopaths – Martin McDonagh‘s latest film about dogknapping and screenwriting won the People’s Choice Midnight Madness award.

Here’s the full list via TIFF.net:

BlackBerry People’s Choice Award:

Silver Linings Playbook directed by David O. Russell

Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Julia Stiles and Jennifer Lawrence star in this acerbic comedy-drama from David O. Russell (The Fighter), about a former high-school teacher who returns to his family home after eight months in a mental institution and begins to slowly rebuild his life.

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Runners Up: Ben Affleck’s Argo and Eran Riklis’ Zaytoun

BlackBerry People’s Choice Documentary Award:

Artifact directed by Bartholomew Cubbins

Telling harsh truths about the modern music business, Artifact gives intimate access to singer/actor Jared Leto and his band Thirty Seconds to Mars as they battle their label in a brutal lawsuit and record their album This Is War. The film is a true artifact of our times, as its subjects struggle with big questions over art, money and integrity.

Runners Up: Christopher Nelius & Justin McMillan’s Storm Surfers 3D and Rob Stewart’s Revolution

BlackBerry People’s Choice Midnight Madness Award:

Seven Psychopaths directed by Martin McDonagh

A screenwriter (Colin Farrell) struggling to write a serial-killer script gets more real-life inspiration than he can handle when a dognapping scheme gone awry brings a galaxy of crazies to his doorstep. A top-notch cult-movie cast — including Christopher Walken, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Tom Waits, Harry Dean Stanton — anchors this wacky, blood-spattered commentary on the psycho-killer thriller from the writer-director of In Bruges.

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Runners Up: Barry Levinson’s The Bay and Don Coscarelli’s John Dies at the End

City of Toronto + Canada Goose Award for Best Canadian Feature:

Laurence Anyways directed by Xavier Dolan

Skyy Vodka Award For Best Canadian First Feature Film:

Antiviral directed by Brandon Cronenberg

(tie) Blackbird directed by Jason Buxton

FIPRESCI Prize For Special Presentations:

In the House (Dans la maison) directed by Francois Ozon

FIPRESCI Prize For Discovery Programme:

Call Girl directed by Mikael Marcimain

Best Canadian Short Film:

Keep a Modest Head directed by Deco Dawson

Honorable Mention: Mike Clattenburg’s Crackin’ Down Hard

NETPAC Award for the Best First or Second Feature:

The Land of Hope directed by Sion Sono

Source: First Showing