September 18, 2012 21:17

30 Seconds To Mars film scoops award at Toronto International Film Festival

'Artifact' was directed by the band's frontman Jared Leto

Photo: PA

A film about 30 Seconds To Mars has won the People's Choice award at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The documentary, called Artifact and directed by the band's frontman Jared Leto - under the fake name Bartholomew Cubbins – details their legal troubles with the label EMI who filed a $30 million lawsuit against them when they failed to deliver their third album of a five album contract, reports Rolling Stone.

Talking to Rolling Stone in Toronto after the film won the award yesterday (September 17), Leto said: "It started as a film about the making of an album, and it became a film about the most brutal and challenging conflict of our lives."

He continued: "I hope that artists and audiences watch this film and get a greater understanding of how things work [in the music industry], because understanding is the beginning of change. Inevitably, we're all moving towards what I hope is a more transparent system."

EMI was bought by private equity firm Terra Firma for £3.2 billion in 2007. The band got into a legal tussle with EMI after 30 Seconds To Mars tried to extricate themselves from their contract with the label.

The lawsuit was eventually dropped and the band carried on with the record label for the release of their 2009 record, 'This Is War'.

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