Actors (from left) Tom Skerritt, Kathy Bates, Jessica Lange and Joan Allen arrive for the world premiere screening of their film 'Bonneville' during the 31st Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto, on September 11. The festival ran from September 7 to 16. - reuters

TORONTO (AP):

The unheralded Bella, Mexican-born director Alejandro Gomez Monteverde's feature film debut, took the top audience prize at the 31st Toronto International Film Festival, while international critics gave an award to the controversial British TV movie Death of a President, which centers on a fictionalised assassination of George W. Bush.

Bella, a romantic film which tells the story of a former Mexican soccer star turned chef (Mexican actor Eduardo Verastegui) and a troubled waitress (American stage actress Tammy Blanchard) whose lives converge and turn upside down during a single day in New York, was the surprise winner of the People's Choice Award voted on by festival audiences.

"This festival has been so, so amazing," Monteverde said as he accepted the award at the festival's closing reception Saturday night at the Hilton Kingston hotel. "They treat the little ones and the big ones the same. ... Thank you, Toronto Film Festival, for allowing film-makers like myself who come from nothing to come here."

Other awardees

Last year's People's Choice Award winner, the South African film Tsotsi, won the Oscar for best foreign- language film.

French Director Patrice Leconte's buddy film Mon meilleur ami was the first runner-up for the People's Choice Award, followed by Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck's documentary Dixie Chicks: Shut up and Sing, which chronicles the trio's transition from country music darlings to bold symbols for freedom of expression after their criticism of President Bush sparked a strong backlash.

British Director Gabriel Range's Death of a President stirred up a strong reaction even before it premiered at the festival, but it won the Prize of the International Critics (FIPRESCI Prize). The jury of film critics cited the film "for the audacity with which it distorts reality to reveal a larger truth."

Death of a President, which was bought by Newmarket Films and is slated to air October 9 on an offshoot of Britain's Channel 4 network, chronicles the sniper shooting of Bush on October 19, during a trip to Chicago and the ensuing investigation.

The film blends archival footage of Bush interspersed with fierce anti-war protests and other fictional scenes crafted by the filmmakers. Actors posing as administration officials and Secret Service agents were digitally grafted into some images of the president and his entourage. The filmmakers said they chose to use Bush rather than substitute a fictitious president to heighten the authenticity.

Other prizes announced Saturday night included the Swarovski Cultural Innovation Award which went to Takva - A Man's Fear of God, a Turkish-German co-production about a man whose belief in God is put to the test, and the Diesel Discovery Award, voted on by the festival press corps, which went to Norwegian Director Joachim Trier's feature debut Reprise, a comedy about two young men with a shared dream of becoming writers.

The festival, which screened 352 films over 10 days, closed on Saturday .