The Oscar buzz is building about In Bruges director Martin McDonagh's new film, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, after its win at the Toronto International Film Festival over the weekend.
The film, which sees Frances McDormand and Peter Dinklage cast opposite McDonagh's Seven Psychopaths stars Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell, won the People's Choice Award at Toronto - an honour seen as a good indicator of Oscar success.
Best Picture Oscar winners 12 Years a Slave, The King's Speech, Slumdog Millionaire and American Beauty all won the People's Choice Award at Toronto, while many other recipients of the Canadian gong have been shortlisted for the Academy Awards.
Described as darkly comic, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri follows Mildred Hayes (McDormand), a grieving mother railing against the lack of progress in the investigation into her daughter's murder.
She posts three controversial messages outside her hometown which put her on a collision course with the local police chief (Harrelson) and his second-in-command (Rockwell).
London-Irish writer-director McDonagh already has an Oscar to his name, having won Best Live Action Short in 2006 for the Brendan Gleeson-starring Six Shooter.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was given a 10-minute standing ovation when it received its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month.
The film will be released in the US in November - a key month during what is known as 'Awards Season' - and is due in Irish cinemas on January 12, 2018.
