Sir Anthony
Hopkins, Chloé Zhao, and Mira
Nair are newly announced honourees, joining previously
announced recipient Kate
Winslet
TORONTO, Aug. 12, 2020 /CNW/ - TIFF and Bell Media
today unveiled that television audiences can tune in to the 2020
TIFF Tribute Awards, to be broadcast on Tuesday, September 15 at 8pm ET/PT on CTV and everywhere CTV content can
be found, during the 45th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival. Produced
by Bell Media Studios, the first-ever one-hour broadcast will
feature special messages from the honourees. The broadcast will be
streamed to a global audience by Variety.
The TIFF Tribute Awards ceremony is an annual fundraiser to
support both TIFF's year-round programming and the organization's
core mission to transform the way people see the world through
film. The Awards honour the film industry's outstanding
contributors and their achievements, recognizing leading industry
members, acting talent, directorial expertise, new talent, and a
below-the-line artist and creator.
"In what has been a challenging year for our global filmmaking
community, we're delighted to partner with Bell Media to unite
cinemagoers across Canada, and
around the world, to share in our love of film and celebrate the
industry's leading talent," said Joana
Vicente, Executive Director and Co-Head, TIFF.
"Featuring incredible career retrospectives along with
appearances by extraordinary talent, we're thrilled to be working
with the TIFF team to create the inaugural broadcast of the 2020
TIFF Tribute Awards for viewers in Canada and around the world," said
Randy Lennox, President,
Bell Media.
In making the announcement, TIFF revealed that Academy
Award–winning actor Sir Anthony
Hopkins will receive a TIFF Tribute Actor Award;
director Chloé Zhao will receive the TIFF Ebert Director
Award; and Academy Award–nominated filmmaker Mira Nair will be honoured with the
Jeff Skoll Award in Impact
Media. TIFF previously announced Academy Award–winning actress
Kate Winslet will receive a TIFF
Tribute Actor Award.
Sir Anthony
Hopkins
Vicente said Hopkins' onscreen presence
continues to captivate, entertain, and inspire audiences and actors
alike: "Sir Anthony's brilliant and compelling performance in
Florian Zeller's The Father
affirms his position as a true acting legend." With a career
spanning over 60 years, Hopkins has starred in films including
The Bounty, Howards End, Hitchcock, and the Thor series. He
won an Academy Award for his role as Hannibal Lecter in The
Silence of the Lambs, and was nominated for four other Academy
Awards for his roles in The Remains of the Day,
Nixon, Amistad, and The Two Popes. In
addition, he has won three BAFTAs and two Emmys, has been nominated
for seven Golden Globe awards, and was honoured with the
Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2006.
Hopkins stars alongside Olivia
Colman in Zeller's The Father, about a man struggling
with aging, which will screen at TIFF and be released by Sony
Pictures Classics on November 20,
2020.
Chloé Zhao
Vicente said Zhao's upcoming film
Nomadland reminds us, particularly right now, that cinema
has the power to connect us all no matter how far apart we might
feel: "Chloé's work consistently exemplifies her signature flair
for authentic, humane, and emotionally intimate storytelling."
Zhao was born in Beijing,
China. She was raised there and also in Brighton, England. After moving to the US, she
studied political science at Mount Holyoke
College and film production at NYU. Songs My Brothers Taught Me, her debut
feature film as a writer, director, and producer, premiered at the
2015 Sundance Film Festival and screened in the Directors'
Fortnight section at the Cannes
Film Festival, receiving a nomination for the Caméra d'Or Award for
best first feature. Her sophomore feature, The Rider, an
impressionistic drama about a South
Dakota cowboy, premiered at Cannes' Directors' Fortnight in 2017 and won
the Art Cinema Award. The film went on to receive critical acclaim,
with Zhao nominated for Best Director at the Independent Spirit
Awards and won Best Feature at the IFP Gotham Awards. Zhao's
upcoming film Nomadland, which explores the vast landscape
of the American West, stars Frances
McDormand, David Strathairn,
Linda May, and Charlene Swankie. The film will screen at TIFF
and will be released by Searchlight Pictures this fall. Zhao's
other upcoming feature is The Eternals from Marvel
Studios.
Mira Nair
Vicente said
Nair's brilliant adaptation of A Suitable Boy acts as a
testament to her extraordinary talent for authentic storytelling.
"Mira's passion for creating impact through film and storytelling,
coupled with her masterful cinematic style, extends far beyond the
screen; and resonates through her deep commitment for talent
development in the US, East
Africa, and India."
Nair is an Academy Award– and BAFTA-nominated filmmaker who has
directed numerous films, including Mississippi Masala, the
Venice Golden Lion–winning Monsoon Wedding, The
Namesake, and Queen of Katwe. Her first film, Salaam
Bombay!, won the Caméra d'Or
at Cannes in 1988, was nominated
for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and won the
BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language. She was
awarded the Laura Ziskin Lifetime Achievement Award at the Athena
Film Festival, a Tribute at the IFP Gotham Awards, and a Muse Award
from NYWIFT. Nair's production company, Mirabai Films, specializes
in creating films about the world, for the world. In 1998, Nair
used the profits from Salaam Bombay! to create Salaam Baalak Trust,
which works with street children in India, and in 2005, she established Maisha
Film Lab in Kampala, Uganda, a
non-profit training initiative for emerging East African
filmmakers. In 2012, Nair was awarded the Padma Bhushan —
India's second-highest civilian
honour — by the president of India. Nair's six-part miniseries A
Suitable Boy will screen at TIFF.
Last year the inaugural TIFF Tribute Gala celebrated the
remarkable talents and contributions of Meryl Streep, Taika
Waititi, Mati Diop, and Joaquin Phoenix, among others. TIFF continues to
work closely with the Province of Ontario, the City of
Toronto, and public health officials on the safe execution
of the Festival, with its number-one priority being the health and
well-being of both Festival filmgoers and the residents of the
entire community. Additional honourees for 2020 will be announced
in the coming weeks.
The 2020 TIFF Tribute Awards is produced by Bell Media
Studios in partnership with the Toronto International Film Festival.
Emmanuel Groneveldt is Director of
Entertainment Production, Bell Media Studios and Executive
Producer. Chris Perez is Executive
Producer, Bell Media Studios. Nanci
MacLean is Vice-President, Bell Media Studios and President,
Pinewood Toronto Studios. Mike
Cosentino is President, Content and Programming, Bell Media.
Randy Lennox is President,
Bell Media.
Social Media:
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twitter.com/TIFF_NET
instagram.com/TIFF_NET
#TIFF20
facebook.com/BellMediaInc
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instagram.com/bellmediapr
About TIFF
TIFF is a not-for-profit cultural
organization whose mission is to transform the way people see the
world through film. An international leader in film culture, TIFF
projects include the annual Toronto International Film Festival in
September; TIFF Bell Lightbox, which features five cinemas, major
exhibitions, and learning and entertainment facilities; and
innovative national distribution program Film Circuit. The
organization generates an annual economic impact of $189 million CAD. TIFF Bell Lightbox is
generously supported by contributors including Founding Sponsor
Bell, the Province of Ontario, the
Government of Canada, the
City of Toronto, the Reitman
family (Ivan Reitman, Agi Mandel and Susan
Michaels), The Daniels Corporation and RBC. For more
information, visit tiff.net.
About Bell Media
Bell Media is Canada's leading content creation company with
premier assets in television, radio, out-of-home advertising,
digital media, and more. Bell Media owns 35 local television
stations led by CTV, Canada's
highest-rated television network, and the French-language V network
in Québec; and 29 specialty channels, including leading specialty
services TSN and RDS. Bell Media is Canada's largest radio broadcaster, with 215
music channels, including 109 licensed radio stations in 58 markets
across the country, all part of the iHeartRadio brand and streaming
service. Bell Media owns Astral, an out-of-home advertising network
of 50,000 faces in five provinces. The country's digital media
leader, Bell Media develops and operates websites, apps, and online
platforms for its news and entertainment brands; video streaming
services Crave, TSN Direct, and RDS Direct; and multi-channel
network Much Studios. The company owns a majority stake in Pinewood
Toronto Studios; is a partner in Just for Laughs, the live comedy
event and TV producer; and jointly owns Dome Productions
Partnership., one of North
America's leading production facilities providers. Bell
Media is part of BCE Inc. (TSX, NYSE: BCE), Canada's largest communications company. Learn
more at bellmedia.ca.
TIFF is generously supported by Lead Sponsor
Bell, Major Sponsors RBC, L'Oréal Paris, and Visa, and Major Supporters
the Government of Ontario,
Telefilm Canada, and the City of
Toronto.
SOURCE Bell Media