Toronto: The video which outraged America by depicting the assassination of US President George W Bush took home the Fipresci prize, which is chosen by international critics, at the Toronto film festival.
British director Gabriel Range's Death of a President stirred up a strong reaction even before it premiered at the festival.
The jury of film critics cited the film "for the audacity with which it distorts reality to reveal a larger truth."
Death of a President chronicles the sniper shooting of Bush on October 19, 2007, during a trip to Chicago and the ensuing investigation.
The film blends archival footage of Bush interspersed with fierce anti-war protests and other fictional scenes crafted by the filmmakers.
Actors posing as administration officials and Secret Service agents were digitally grafted into some images of the president and his entourage.
The filmmakers said they chose to use Bush rather than substitute a fictitious president to heighten the authenticity.
The film plays out like a whodunit on a grand scale, tracing the twists and turns of the investigation against the backdrop of the continuing Iraq war, an expansion of the Patriot Act anti-terrorism laws to give federal authorities greater powers of surveillance, and other fallout from the September 11 attacks.
However, the £2million movie sparked controversy in America and the British filmmakers had to be guarded by private security men at the film festival after threats were made on their lives.
The digital offshoot of Britain's Channel 4 network plans to show the programme on October 9.
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