Philippe Falardeau’s Monsieur Lazhar was voted the most popular movie by ordinary filmgoers at the Whistler Film Festival, after being overlooked by the Borsos competition jury, fest organizers announced Tuesday.

Falardeau’s latest film earlier won the best Canadian film prize at the Toronto International Film Festival and is Canada’s entry in the Academy Award’s best foreign language film competition.

Monsieur Lazhar, which has had a successful festival circuit run, beat out Whistler audience award runner up Rasta: A Soul’s Journey, by director Stuart Samuels.

The festival pointed to other audience favourites like Maxwell McGuire’s Foreverland, Christopher Petry’s Marilyn and Doppleganger Paul, directed by Dylan Akio Smith and Kris Elgstrand.

Total attendance at Whistler, including industry insiders, was on par with 2010 at 8.270 attendees (8,189 in 2010), including 506 delegates (482 in 2010).