Ever since he burst onto the movie scene more than three decades ago, director David Cronenberg has been winning accolades for his hard-hitting big screen offerings. And now it seems the Toronto-born filmmaker is on the road to Oscar success after being awarded the main prize at the Toronto Film Festival for his new film Eastern Promises.
The 65-year-old, who earlier this week joined the film's stars, Naomi Watts and Viggo Mortensen at the festival presentation of the London-set mob drama, scooped the coveted people's choice award. Voted for by screen fans, the trophy is regarded as an early indicator of success at the Oscars.
"It's great that it's a Canadian film by one of our monsters," said festival director Piers Handling about the cult movie maker's win.
David - who couldn't make it to the awards luncheon on Saturday as he was attending the flick's North American release in New York - wasn't the only Canadian filmmaker to be garnering recognition on the closing night of the Toronto film gala. Guy Maddin, who hails from Manitoba, accepted the best feature film trophy for self-penned documentary My Winnipeg.
Photo: Canadian Press
Photo: Canadian Press
