Driving the stars to the red carpets

Now in its 36^th year, TIFF has emerged to become the largest public film festival in the world – Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Madonna and Robert DeNiro were just a few of the big name stars to visit TIFF this year – and Cadillac was at the centre of all the action.

Cadillac People’s Choice Award
Following eleven days and over three hundred films, Cadillac once again presented three awards – the Award for the fans’ favourite midnight madness film, the Award for the highest rated film in documentary programming and the fans’ favourite, the Cadillac People’s Choice Award, for the overall highest rated film. The winning director for this award received $15,000, courtesy of Cadillac, and a stunning hand-crafted glass-and-crystal award designed by renowned Canadian artist Jeff Goodman. After every TIFF screening, ballots are distributed to moviegoers with the chance to rate the film. This gives “the everyday movie connoisseur a chance to voice their opinion and support the films that really connect with them,” says Rob Assimakopoulos, General Director, Marketing and Communications for Cadillac.



VP of Sales and Marketing for GM Canada Marc J. Comeau (2nd from Left) presents the Cadillac People’s Choice Awards to representatives of the winning films during the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. Also in photo, from left to right: Thom Powers, TIFF Lead Programmer: Real to Reel, Mavericks accepting on behalf of Jon Shenk; Marc Comeau, VP of Sales and Marketing, General Motors of Canada; Rasha Salti, TIFF Programmer: Africa, Middle East accepting on behalf of Nadine Labaki; and Gareth Evans, director of ‘The Raid.’

Votes are tallied at the end of the Festival and an audience favourite is determined. The winning filmmaker is further awarded $15,000 in prize money. This year, Where Do We Go Now? from Lebanese-Canadian director Nadine Labaki, won the 2011 Cadillac People’s Choice Award – an accolade that usually signals more recognition is to come for the film. Past winners of the CPCA have included The King's Speech and Slumdog Millionaire.

As Assimakopoulos says, “The Festival is a fabulous venue for showcasing and awarding creativity, and the Cadillac People’s Choice Award is a fantastic way to celebrate the creative accomplishments of these artists.” Also awarded are the fans’ favourite Midnight Madness film and the award for the highest rated documentary film.

Get a taste of TIFF – Watch our three Cadillac CTS-V coupe “From Zero to Drama” TIFF movie trailers

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Our ‘Stealing the Spotlight’ winner was on the red carpet—and in the green room.

“I felt like a celeb all weekend!” said Michael Mcivor, Grand Prize Winner of our
TIFF Premier Screening at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.

Michael won the Cadillac Owners Centre ‘Stealing the Spotlight’ Contest and on September 10th he and his wife, Meghan, left their hometown of Whitby, Ontario and headed to Toronto for a weekend they dubbed their “Babymoon” – Meghan was almost nine months pregnant at the time, and while the baby didn’t make a grand entrance at the film festival, the couple certainly did.

On Friday evening they checked into the luxurious Le Royal Meridien King Edward Hotel for two nights’ accommodation as part of their prize—and the concierge further upgraded their room as a special treat. On Saturday afternoon the couple were picked up at the hotel by a chauffeured 2011 Cadillac Escalade, the official vehicle of the festival. Michael described it as “simply gorgeous” (though he’s also partial to his own pearl white 2003 CTS). The Escalade took them to the Windsor Arms Hotel for a Patron Tequila VIP Event complete with paparazzi. As luck would have it, the director and producers of the film that Michael and Meghan were going to see were also at the VIP Event and the couple left with them in a parade of festival Escalades.

When they all arrived at the Princess of Wales theatre, Michael and Meghan were ushered onto the red carpet, too. In the excitement, theatre officials assumed the couple was “with the film” and took them back to the green room behind the stage. “We couldn’t believe it,” said Michael. There, they got to rub shoulders with the actors, including the star of the movie, Ewan McGregor. “He’s a pretty cool guy!” said Michael. The film the couple saw was Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. “It was a fun movie, really humorous,” said Michael, “and my wife loved it, too.” When the couple finally returned to their hotel later that evening, they kept thinking, “Wow, being a celebrity is great—and exhausting!”

And let’s not forget our Early Bird Prize winner...
In addition to the Grand Prize, the Cadillac Owner Center also awarded The Early Bird Prize of a Cadillac People’s Choice Award DVD Prize Pack. The winner was Ron Slinger from Vancouver, British Columbia, who now has in his personal movie collection all of the previous Cadillac People’s Choice Award Films, including The King’s Speech (2010), Precious (2009), Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and Eastern Promises (2007).