TIFF Bell Lightbox and Jacob Tremblay Vancouver

: The Platform prize was amongst many handed out Sunday in a ceremony at TIFF Bell Lightbox to close the 11-day festival, which saw 473,000 moviegoers take in hundreds of features and shorts, according to Toronto Star. The top prize, the People Choice Award, went to Lenny Abrahamson Ireland/Canada co-production Room, a mother-and-son abduction drama that is touted for Oscar attention. Journeyman local filmmaker Alan Zweig took the $25,000 prize for HURT, a devastating but compassionate look at fallen Canadian idol Steve Fonyo, who raised millions for cancer research with his cross-country run 30 years ago. It based on a book by Irish-Canadian author Emma Donoghue and co-stars eight-year-old Jacob Tremblay of Vancouver, who plays the son of Brie Larson character. Zweig, a TIFF regular and 2013 prize winner of the fest Best Canadian Feature prize for When Jews Were Funny, said he was in shock to be chosen from amongst the 12 international films competing for the top prize in the new Platform program, which in some respects is similar to the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Runners up were Pan Nalin Angry Indian Goddesses, a female buddy comedy; and Tom McCarthy Spotlight, a dramatic journalism procedural, which is also attracting Oscar buzz. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.