The 35th annual Toronto International Film Festival is officially a wrap, and a large handful of films have emerged victorious. Usually a trustworthy barometer for upcoming award show glory, TIFF once again has annointed a roster of stellar candidates as this year’s chosen ones. Here are the ten films that stood out for us; though some are destined for Oscar gold, and others are still searching for distribution deals, they’re all must-sees.

Read on for a list of our favorite films from the week…

Black Swan: Darren Aronofsky’s ballet thriller was the most buzzed-about film of the fest and with good reason. Natalie Portman shines as a ballerina on the brink in this twisted Polanskian psychodrama.

Biutiful: Acclaimed Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu forgoes his trademark temporal trickery (Babel, 21 Grams) for a straightforward tale about a morally conflicted man trying to raise his children in an economically unforgiving Barcelona. Oh, and he’s dying of cancer. Javier Bardem is virtually assured a third Oscar nomination.

Ceremony: With Hollywood’s newest golden boy Jason Reitman serving as executive producer and Uma Thurman starring in this witty tale of unrequited love, dont expect Max Winkler’s assured feature directorial debut to remain sans-distributor for long. One of the most pleasant surprises of the festival.

Blue Valentine: We tend to fall for anything Ryan Gosling does, but this tumultuous look at the disintegration of a marriage (Michelle Williams plays the other half) may be our fellow Canadian’s best work yet. Absolutely dripping with Oscar buzz.

The King’s Speech: No other film was as unanimously lauded as The Audience Award winner that features Colin Firth (photo at right) as a king trying to overcome his stutter. Past Audience Award winners include Precious, Slumdog Millionaire, and American Beauty, making Tom Hooper’s touching story an automatic Oscar frontrunner.

Never Let Me Go: Mark Romanek’s poetic and tragic look at the lives of a trio of teenagers (Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, and Andrew Garfield) growing up in a dystopian Britain was one of the fest’s biggest weepers. If you missed it, fear not, Never Let Me Go will be in select theaters just in time for awards season.

Rabbit Hole: This nuanced look at parents (Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart) trying to cope with the loss of their son manages to avoid the many cliches we’ve come to expect in such dramas. Director John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig And The Angry Inch, Shortbus) shows a surprisingly deft hand.

Incendies: We spoke to one of the heads of TIFF’s Canadian programming committee, who told us that each year, over 200 Canadian features are submitted, and just over twenty get selected. This year, Denis Villeneuve’s harrowing saga of a set of twins who embark on an epic journey to The Middle East to untangle their roots, was the best of Canada’s especially strong showing.

Brighton Rock: First-time director Rowan Joffe has taken one of Graham Greene’s most polarizing novels and turned it into a masterful and moody study of behaviour, violence, and religion, set in the noir world of gang-infested 1960′s Brighton, England. Sam Riley is spellbinding as the sadistic street thug Pinkie.

The Illusionist: We still haven’t been able to shake Sylvain Chomet’s phantasmagorical animated feature Triplets of Belleville, and the French master has done it again with his beautiful tale of an aging magician who befriends a young Scottish peasant girl. The almost dialogue-free film isn’t for everyone, but it’s sheer beauty is entrancing.

- Daniel Barna