MUMBAI: Benedict Cumberbatch starrer The Imitation Game won the People’s Choice Award at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), marking the end of the 11-day movie marathon.

Set for a 21 November release in US, the biopic portrays Cumberbatch as mathematician Alan Turing, who led the effort to break the Enigma code during World War II and was later persecuted by the government for his homosexuality. Directed by Morten Tyldum, the movie also stars Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Mark Strong, Rory Kinnear, Charles Dance, Allen Leech and Matthew Beard.

The film beat the first runner-up Learning to Drive — a dramedy about the unlikely friendship between Patricia Clarkson’s newly separated book editor and her driving instructor.

Sponsored by Grolsch and decided by TIFF audiences, The People’s Choice Award for a feature film, is the most prestigious prize of the festival. Previous winners include 12 Years a Slave, Silver Linings Playbook, The King’s Speech and Slumdog Millionaire.

Meanwhile, the people's choice award in the genre-driven Midnight Madness section went to New Zealand comedy maestros Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement for their vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows. Maxime Giroux’s Felix and Meira took the Canada Goose Award for Best Canadian Feature Film and Jeffrey St. Jules won the prize for best first Canadian feature film for Bang Bang Baby.

The People’s Choice Award for documentaries went to Hajooj Kuka’s Beats of the Antonov, a film that promotes peace, love and cultural expression amid the tribal wars that have afflicted Sudan for decades.