Cronenberg's "Eastern Promises" wins top prize at Toronto film fest

You won't have to wait to see the winner of the prestigious audience award at the Toronto International Film Festival. Attendees of the 10-day festival, which ended Saturday, voted David Cronenberg's thriller "Eastern Promises" as the best of the fest. The film, which stars Viggo Mortensen as an ambitious driver for London's Russian mob, is already in limited release nationwide; in Seattle, you can see it downtown at the Meridian.

The audience award runner-up was Jason Reitman's sardonic teen-pregnancy comedy "Juno," followed by "Body of War," an Iraq War documentary directed by Phil Donahue (yes, that Phil Donahue) and Ellen Spiro. In past years, the TIFF audience award has been a springboard to success; recent winners have included "Tsotsi" (which won the Academy Award for best foreign film in 2006), "Hotel Rwanda," "Whale Rider" and "Amelie." (Last year's winner, the Mexican/American drama "Bella," is something of an anomaly; it still hasn't had a theatrical release in the U.S.)

Israel Cárdenas and Laura Amelia Guzmán's "Cochochi," a story of two young brothers in northwest Mexico, won the Diesel Discovery award, voted on by the festival's accredited media. The Fipresci International critics prize was won by the Mexican drama "La Zona," directed by first-timer Rodrigo Plá.

The last days of the festival saw several major distribution deals, including one for Stuart Townsend's "Battle in Seattle." The film, shot in Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., depicts the events of the 1999 WTO riots. It was acquired for a reported $2 million by THINKFilm, the same outfit that picked up the Northwest-made "Zoo" at Sundance last year.

The festival's biggest sale was of the comedy "Bill," starring Aaron Eckhart and Jessica Alba, which went to First Look for what Variety identified as "north of $3 million."

And the festival served its traditional purpose of launching the prestige-movie season, with well-buzzed North American debuts of Joe Wright's British drama "Atonement," the Coen brothers' western "No Country for Old Men," Sean Penn's fact-based drama "Into the Wild" and Ang Lee's tale of espionage in 1940s Shanghai, "Lust, Caution" (which won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival last week, alongside its Toronto premiere). All are scheduled to open in Seattle theaters before the year's end.

Moira Macdonald: 206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com