“12 Years a Slave,” has won the audience award at the Toronto International Film Festival, building Oscar momentum for Steve McQueen’s unblinking portrait of slavery in 1840s America.
McQueen’s film beat out first runner-up “Philomena,” directed by fellow Brit Stephen Frears, and second runner-up “Prisoners,” directed by Quebec’s Denis Villeneuve.
Following the announcement Sunday, festival head Piers Handling suggested this was the beginning of many prestigious accolades for the sweeping drama.
“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 after being crowned most popular in Toronto.
Every best picture winner since 2007 has played at the 11-day Toronto International Film Festival, which wrapped up Sunday.
Bill Condon, Jennifer Lopez Unveil “Kiss of the Spider Woman” At Sundance
A lavish, MGM-style musical is not typical Sundance Film Festival fare. But Sunday night Bill Condon brought such a creation—well, part of one—to Park City, Utah, with his adaptation of "Kiss of the Spider Woman," starring Jennifer Lopez.
Audiences broke out in spontaneous applause during the screening for Lopez's song and dance numbers. She plays an old Hollywood screen siren in a movie-within-the movie. The packed Eccles Theater also gave Lopez, wearing a glittery spiderweb themed frock, a standing ovation after the show.
"I've been waiting for this moment my whole life," Lopez said.
The story, which revolves around the conversations between two cellmates in an Argentine prison, was first a novel by Manuel Puig in 1976 and has been adapted for stage and screen over the years. A 1985 film adaptation starred William Hurt and Raul Julia. Hurt won an Oscar for his performance. On Broadway, it won multiple Tony Awards.
Condon wrote and directed this new version, which is seeking a distributor. Diego Luna plays an imprisoned revolutionary Valentin Arregui, whose new cellmate Luis Molina (Tonatiuh) loves movies, celebrity and glamour and enthusiastically recounts the story of a favorite movie musical, called "Kiss of the Spider Woman" to Valentin, giving them and the audience a break from their bleak reality.
While the film has memorable moments of escapist spectacle, it also delves into serious topics of gender identity. Molina tells Valentin that they don't feel like a man or a woman—which Valentin finds odd at first but grows to understand.
Before the screening, Condon said that one of the things the movie is about is "the attempt to bridge the incredible differences that separate us so often." He quoted President... Read More