Rotterdam will end this year’s festival on a crowdpleasing note, with awards contender The King’s Speech as the Closing Night Film.

The 40th IFFR will host the Closing Night screening on Saturday, Feb 5, after the announcement of the festival’s two audience awards.

Colin Firth won the Best Actor (Drama) Golden Globe last night for his role as King George VI. Tom Hooper’s film is about an idiosyncratic speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush) help the king with his stuttering problem ahead of World War II.

The King’s Speech will be released in The Netherlands on Feb 17 by Paradiso Filmed Entertainment Netherlands.

The full Rotterdam programme will be out Jan 20.