It was all over but for the cheering and the scrambled eggs when this year’s Toronto International Film Festival concluded with its annual awards brunch at the Four Seasons on Sept. 15 – where the top honor went to director David Cronenberg and his thriller Spider.

‘I’ve spent the last 10 days telling people that the film festival doesn’t have prizes,’ said Cronenberg upon accepting the Toronto-City Best Canadian Feature Film Award and its $25,000 cash prize. ‘So you’ve made a liar out of me,’ he said with a laugh, ‘and a hypocrite because I’m very happy to get this.’

Even happier was Wiebke von Carolsfeld. The director of Marion Bridge could barely contain herself when she was handed $15,000 and the award for Best Canadian First Feature Film. ‘Daniel MacIvor wrote a beautiful script and I was blessed with an amazing cast,’ she said, tearing up, ‘there are so many people who have helped me to tell stories with pictures.’

Beating out runners-up Bowling for Columbine and Bend It Like Beckham, director Niki Caro nabbed the People’s Choice Award for her Whale Rider. The Discovery Award, voted on by members of the press, went to Peter Mullan’s controversial The Magdalene Sisters and this year’s Best Canadian Short Film honor – as voted by jury members Sarah Polley, Elida Schogt and Pierre Hebert – went to Ann Marie Fleming and her Blue Skies.

The International Federation of Film Critics press handed its FIPRESCI Prize to Les Chemins de l’Oued by France’s Gael Morel. ‘This gives me a lot of joy and energy,’ said Morel. ‘For me the cinema is about building bridges between people who don’t know each other,’ he added through an interpreter, ‘and asking the audience to see each other’s diversity and similarity.’

The 27th TIFF also saw the introduction of the Visions Award, sponsored by the Independent Film Channel, which went to veteran and absent filmmaker Alexandr Sokurov for his Russian Ark.

‘I think the festival was virtually flawless this year,’ said festival director Piers Handling, thanking his innumerable staff and volunteers. ‘There were very few breakdowns.’

-www.e.bell.ca/filmfest