Toronto winners The top prize at the Toronto International Film Festival went to “Precious,” which was also showered with awards at the Sundance Film Festival. Produced by Oprah Winfrey, directed by Lee Daniels and starring Gabourey Sidibe in a widely acclaimed performance, “Precious” is an inspiring story about an overweight, illiterate, pregnant teenager who is sadly abused, but finds emotional support and hope from a special teacher.

Michael Moore's film “Capitalism: A Love Story,” which opens October 2 at the Michigan Theater, was runner-up in the Best Documentary category. The top prize went to by Leanne Pooley's “The Topp Twins,” about a pair of New Zealand lesbian country singers. The full list of Toronto International Film Festival winners is available on the TIFF site.

This week at a theater near you! Tonight only, you can participate in the “Manhattan Short Film Festival” at 7 p.m. at the Michigan Theater. This one-day festival includes 10 films, representing nine countries. Audience members will be handed a voting card that will allow you to cast a ballot for the best film. The winner will be announced on Tuesday, September 29. Tonight is also your last chance to see, from Japan, the Academy Award-winning Best Foreign Language picture “Departures” at the Michigan Theater and Quentin Tarantino’s new film “Inglorious Basterds” at the State Theatre. On Friday at 3:30 p.m., at the Stern Auditorium in the newly expanded and improved University of Michigan Museum of Art, you are encouraged to come to a free celebration for Dr. Frank Beaver, the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Emeritus of Screen Arts & Cultures and Communication Studies at the University of Michigan. “Frank,” as his beloved students call him, taught this humble writer and theater manager, along with tens of thousands other U of M film students, for nearly 40 years. You may also remember Frank Beaver as the longtime film critic for WUOM. Opening this week

“Bright Star,” the highly acclaimed new film from Jane Campion (best known for her film “The Piano”), opens Friday at the Michigan Theater. This period drama focuses on the last few years in the life of poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw), as seen through the eyes of his lover, Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish). Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times raves, “'Bright Star' satisfies a hunger we may not have known we had, a hunger for an exquisitely done, emotional love story that marries heartbreaking passion to formidable filmmaking restraint...”

Frances Ford Coppola's new film, “Tetro,” plays a very limited run at the Michigan, September 27, 29, 30 and October 1. Coppola distorts aspects of his own biography and plays out this tale in Argentina. The film's protagonist travels to Buenos Aires to find his long-missing older brother, a once-promising writer who is now a remnant of his former self. Finding his brother's nearly finished play holds the promise of reclaiming their shared past and renewing their family bond. An entertaining film based on the teenage years of suntan maven, sometimes movie star and all around fun guy George Hamilton opens Friday at the State Theatre. Set in the 1950s, “My One and Only” stars Renee Zellweger as the glamorous Anne Deveraux (George’s mom). One day she packs up the kids in the car, leaves her adulterous husband and embarks on a drive down the Eastern Seaboard on a quixotic search for a wealthy man to fund a new life for her and her sons.

The hot new film for the midnight movie crowd is “Paranormal Activity.” It plays at midnight Friday (Saturday morning) and 12:15 Saturday night (Sunday morning) at the State. This very-low-budget horror films uses “found” videotape footage (like “The Blair Witch Project”) of surveillance cameras set up in a couple’s new home after the wife’s sleep is disturbed by a mysteries presence. The Michigan’s movie musical series continues Monday with “Easter Parade.” Opening at your local multiplex “Surrogates” stars Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell and Ving Rhames. It's set in a world where humans live in isolation and interact through robot surrogates. Bruce Willis plays a cop who is forced to leave his home for the first time in years to investigate the “murder” of robots that do the daily business of their isolated human masters.

“Fame,” a remake of the 1980s movie musical, stars Kelsey Grammer, Bebe Neuwirth, Megan Mullally and a ton of talented kids trying to make it in New York City’s High School of Performing Arts.

“Pandorum” is a sci-fi film from Paul W.S. Anderson, the producer of the “Resident Evil” movies (based on the video game). It stars Dennis Quaid and Ben Foster as crew mates aboard a spaceship who wake up with no knowledge of their mission or their identities. Sounds like a metaphor for Monday mornings! See you at the movies!

Russ Collins is executive director of the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor. Tune in to the audio version of “Cinema Chat” on WEMU radio (89.1-FM) each Thursday at 7:40 AM and 5:40 PM, or listen to it online at WEMU's web site.