The 34th annual Vancouver International Film Festival finished with a gala screening and the announcement of the audience award winners. Two Irish films were among the winners, with Brooklyn, directed by John Crowley, named winner of the Rogers People’s Choice Award as the festival’s overall most popular film, and Lenny Abrahamson’s Canadian/Irish co-production Room winning Most Popular Canadian Feature.

Director John Crowley’s Irish immigrant love story Brooklyn, acquired by Fox Searchlight at Sundance, has won the top audience award at the Vancouver Film Festival.

Adapted from Colm Toibin’s 2009 novel by Nick Hornby, Brooklyn stars Saoirse Ronan and Star Wars: The Force Awakens actor Domhnall Gleeson. Brooklyn is set in 1950s Ireland and centers on a young woman (Ronan) trapped in between two men and two countries, and testing her commitment to true love and her duty to her home country.

Emory Cohen, Julie Walters and Jim Broadbent also star. Vancouver audiences also named the Brie Larson-starrer Room the best Canadian feature.

Source: Hollywood Reporter