This year’s Toronto International Film Festival continues to catch some major stars. Today, festival head Cameron Bailey has announced the addition of more more honorees who will be receiving a TIFF Tribute Award at this year’s festival. Those honorees include Academy Award–nominated and renowned British filmmaker Mike Leigh, who will be honored with the TIFF Ebert Director Award.
Leigh will premiere his twenty-third film “Hard Truths,” at the festival, which will screen as part of the Special Presentations program and reunites him with Academy Award nominee Marianne Jean-Baptiste (“Secrets & Lies”). Named after legendary film critic Roger Ebert, the award has gone to celebrated visionaries such as Martin Scorsese, Claire Denis, Ava DuVernay, Wim Wenders, and the late Agnès Varda. Past recipients who received the TIFF Ebert Director Award since the TIFF Tribute Awards were introduced include Spike Lee in 2023; Sam Mendes in 2022; Denis Villeneuve in 2021; Chloé Zhao in 2020; and Taika Waititi in 2019.
Leigh will be joined by Canadian rising star Durga Chew-Bose, will be honored with the TIFF Emerging Talent Award presented by Amazon MGM Studios; per today’s announcement, “this award is in the spirit of Torontonian Mary Pickford, the groundbreaking actor, producer, and co-founder of United Artists, whose impact continues today.” Chew-Bose makes her directorial debut with “Bonjour Tristesse,” a contemporary adaptation of late French author Françoise Sagan’s 1954 novel of the same name stars Chloë Sevigny and Claes Bang — the novel had previously been adapted into a film by Otto Preminger in 1958, starring David Niven, Jean Seberg, and Deborah Kerr.
French songwriting and composing duo Camille Dalmais and Clément Ducol will be presented with the TIFF Variety Artisan Award for composing the soundtrack for Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Pérez,” a Netflix film that delighted Cannes audiences earlier this year; the award “recognizes distinguished creatives who have excelled at their craft and made an outstanding contribution to cinema and entertainment.”
As was previously announced, at this year’s festival, “The Chair” alum Sandra Oh will serve as the inaugural Tribute Awards Honorary Chair of the fundraising gala, where Cate Blanchett, “Nightbitch” star Amy Adams, and director David Cronenberg will both be honored. Cronenberg will be recognized with the Norman Jewison Career Achievement Award. The awards ceremony will be held at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel.
“It’s a true honor to welcome Mike Leigh back to the Festival and present him with the TIFF Ebert Director Award,” said Bailey in an official statement. “Leigh has long been acknowledged as one of cinema’s great artists; Roger Ebert himself praised Leigh’s ‘sympathy, penetrating observation, and instinct for human comedy.’ ‘Hard Truths’ is both a summation of that work and a bold move forward.”
Bailey added, “We’re also excited to honor Canadian filmmaker Durga Chew-Bose with the TIFF Emerging Talent Award. Her feature debut, ‘Bonjour Tristesse,’ reimagines the classic film with arresting imagery and insight into character. And in a bountiful year of music in film, Camille Dalmais and Clément Ducol’s ‘Emilia Pérez’ compositions stand out for their passion and vitality. We’re pleased to present them with the TIFF Variety Artisan Award.”
The Tribute Awards gala is TIFF’s largest annual fundraiser. In 2024, proceeds from the awards will go towards TIFF’s Every Story Fund, which champions diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in film.
This year’s festival will run September 5 – September 15. You can check out all the festival’s recent announcements (and more to come) right here.
