The Toronto Film Critics Association has crowned The Queen, Stephen Frears's drama about the royal family's reaction to the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, best picture of 2006.

The other contenders were Martin Scorcese's mob drama The Departed and United 93, a film about the hijacked plane that crashed into a Pennsylvania field during the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

Queen Elizabeth (as played by Helen Mirren) cannot comprehend the public's outpouring of grief at the death of Princess Diana in The Queen. Queen Elizabeth (as played by Helen Mirren) cannot comprehend the public's outpouring of grief at the death of Princess Diana in The Queen.
(Laurie Sparham/Miramax Films/Alliance Atlantis)

The Queen garnered three other awards from the Toronto group, including best actress for Helen Mirren playing Queen Elizabeth II, best supporting actor for Michael Sheen, who played British PM Tony Blair and best screenplay for Peter Morgan.

Frears shared the award for best director with Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne who directed the drama L'Enfant.

Oscar buzz is building for Mirren after she won a Golden Globe nomination and accolades from the New York Film Critics for her icy portrayal of the Queen. The London Critics' Circle has nominated the film for seven awards.

The Toronto critics selected Jennifer Baichwal's Manufactured Landscapes as both best documentary feature and best Canadian film.

The film documents St. Catharines, Ont.-born photographer Edward Burtynsky as he works to create some of his acclaimed images on a trip to China.

The other Canadian films nominated were The Journals Of Knud Rasmussen, Monkey Warfare and Six Figures.

The Dardenne brothers, who shared the best director honours with Frears, also earned best foreign-language film for L'Enfant, about a young Belgian thug who is surprised by his girlfriend's reaction when he sells her baby.

Montrealer Jason Reitman's Thank You For Smoking was named the best first feature, beating out Brick and Little Miss Sunshine. 

Other awards from the Toronto film critics:

  • Best actor: Sacha Baron Cohen for Borat: Cultural Learnings Of America For Make Benefit Glorious Nation Of Kazakhstan.
  • Best supporting actress: Cate Blanchett for Notes On A Scandal.
  • Best animated feature: Happy Feet, by George Miller.

The Clyde Gilmour Award, named for the pioneering film critic and CBC Radio host, was awarded to documentary filmmaker Allan King,

Toronto-based King, who has been making films for 50 years, screened EMPz 4 Life, a documentary about misfit teens in a Toronto suburb, at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival.

King directed landmark documentaries such as A Married Couple, Who's In Charge and Dying At Grace, made feature films Who Has Seen The Wind and All the King's Men and directed episodes of TV series Road to Avonlea.

The Clyde Gilmour Award goes annually to a Canadian who has enriched the understanding and appreciation of film in Canada.

The awards will be handed out at a private ceremony in January 2007 in Toronto.