’12 Years a Slave’ Toronto’s fave, ‘When Jews Were Funny’ named best Cdn film

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Cast members from left, Lupita Nyong\'o, Sarah Paulson, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Alfre Woodard, from the film "12 Years a Slave," pose at the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto, Sept.7, 2013. "12 Years a Slave" has been named audience favourite at the Toronto International Film Festival. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Chris Pizzelloi/Invision/AP

TORONTO – “12 Years a Slave” has been named audience favourite at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Steve McQueen’s heavy hitting historical drama drew the most ballots in an annual popularity contest often seen as a strong predictor of awards show success.

Toronto audiences have proven to be savvy predictors of potential Oscar winners: previous favourites “The King’s Speech,” “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire” and “Slumdog Millionaire” all went on to multiple Academy Award nominations and wins.

The best Canadian feature prize went to Alan Zweig’s documentary “When Jews Were Funny.” It comes with $30,000.

The $15,000 prize for best first Canadian feature went to Shayne Ehman and Seth Scriver for the animated road movie “Asphalt Watches”.

The awards were handed out Sunday at an annual brunch gala marking the end of the 11-day movie marathon, which included new films from Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet and Daniel Radcliffe.

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