Film4 adds TIFF People's Choice Award to autumn film festival prizes

Film4-backed Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri yesterday won Toronto Film Festival's Grolsch People's Choice Award, the third time in five years and fourth time in ten years that a Film4 backed title has won this coveted award (Room – 2015, 12 Years a Slave – 2013, Slumdog Millionaire - 2008).

Clio Barnard's Dark River also received an ‘Honorable Mention’ in the Toronto Platform Prize category.

Director of Film4 Daniel Battsek commented: "Congratulations to Martin, Clio and all our filmmakers and partners on a very successful TIFF. It's heartening to see audiences as well as juries and critics embracing these films. We look forward to UK audiences getting their first taste of them at the upcoming LFF."

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri earlier collected the Best Screenplay Award from Venice Film Festival, where another Film4 backed title - Andrew Haigh's Lean On Pete - was also recognised by the festival's jury, who awarded the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Young Actor or Actress to its young star Charlie Plummer.

Film4 had a total of seven films screening at TIFF: Sebastian Lelio's Disobedience and Michael Pearce's Beast made their world premieres, alongside Yorgos Lanthimos's The Killing of a Sacred Deer, Rungano Nyoni's I Am Not A Witch, and the aforementioned Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Dark River and Lean on Pete.

With the exception of Disobedience, all of these films will screen at this year's BFI London Film Festival, as well as Lynne Ramsey's Cannes prize winner You Were Never Really Here, John Cameron Mitchell's How to Talk to Girls at Parties and - making it's World Premiere - Paddy Considine's Journeyman.