 |
TORONTO -- "Tsotsi," the British-South African drama about six days in the violent life of a young Johannesburg gang leader, captured the People's Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, which closed Saturday (HR 9/19). The win for South African-raised director Gavin Hood follows "Tsotsi" taking the audience award and the best new British feature film award last week at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. " That was agony," an emotional Hood told an awards gathering Saturday afternoon. He paid particular tribute to the film's star, Presley Chweneyagae, a first-time film actor. " Tsotsi" sales agent Robbie Little of the Little Film Company said "Tsotsi" came into Toronto for its North American premiere with all territories up for grabs, except for South Africa. With audiences in Edinburgh and Toronto having connected with "Tsotsi," Little said he would continue active negotiations for a range of international territories, including the U.S. market, and expected to begin closing deals this week. The runner-up film for the People's Choice Award was "Mother of Mine," a drama about a mother and son in war-torn Finland. Other award winners in Toronto included the Discovery Award, voted on by the festival's press corps, going to "Look Both Ways," from Australian director Sarah Watt, and the FIPRESCI Prize being awarded to South Korean director Kang Yi-kwan for "Sa-kwa," which had its world premiere here. The Canadian feature award went to Quebec director Jean-Marc Vallee's "C.R.A.Z.Y," while Renuka Jeyapalan's "Big Girl" grabbed the Canadian short film trophy. In addition to a flurry of deals as Toronto wound down Friday — including Miramax acquiring Ward Serrill's "The Heart of the Game," ThinkFilm nabbing "a/k/a Tommy Chong" and Roadside Attractions buying North American rights to Richard E. Grant's "Wah-Wah" — festival co-director Noah Cowan predicted a number of deals coming out of the festival would be inked in the lead-up to AFM. |
