TORONTO. – Cameron Bailey, CEO of TIFF announces Sam Mendes will receive the TIFF Ebert Director Award. The TIFF Tribute Awards is presented by BVLGARI. It will return to an in-person gala fundraiser during the TIFF 47th edition. TIFF goes live on Sunday, September 11 at Fairmont Royal York Hotel.
TIFF will be presenting the Canadian Premiere of Mendes’ most recent work Empire of Light. A film which he wrote, directed, and produced. Mendes made his feature film debut at TIFF in 1999 with the World Premiere of American Beauty. The film is TIFF People’s Choice Award winner and an Oscar in the Best Director category.
Set in an English seaside town, Searchlight Pictures’ Empire of Light is a powerful and poignant story. It is about human connection and the magic of cinema. It stars Olivia Colman, Micheal Ward, Tom Brooke, and Tanya Moodie. Also Hannah Onslow, Crystal Clarke, Toby Jones and Colin Firth. Mendes also teams up with award-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins, who was also a TIFF Tribute Award recipient in 2019.
The TIFF Ebert Director Award recognizes filmmakers who have exemplified greatness in their careers. It is named after legendary film critic Roger Ebert. The award marks an evolution of the Festival’s Roger Ebert Golden Thumb Award. In past it has gone to celebrated visionaries such as Martin Scorsese, Claire Denis, and Ava DuVernay. Also Wim Wenders, and the late Agnès Varda. Past recipients who received the Award are Denis Villeneuve (2021), Chloé Zhao (2020), and Taika Waititi (2019).
Mendes joins the recently announced list of 2022 TIFF Tribute Award honourees, the ensemble of My Policeman, who will receive the TIFF Tribute Award for Performance presented by Polestar. More information on the 2022 TIFF Tribute Awards event and this year’s honourees will follow in the coming weeks.
The TIFF Tribute Awards have served as an awards-season bellwether, with past honourees such as Deakins, Waititi, Zhao, Jessica Chastain, Sir Anthony Hopkins, and Joaquin Phoenix going on to win awards on the international stage. The TIFF Tribute 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. The Awards event also serves as TIFF’s largest annual fundraiser to support TIFF’s Every Story fund, which promotes diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in film and TIFF’s core mission to transform the way people see the world through film.
Sam Mendes: Biography
Sam Mendes founded and ran the Donmar Warehouse in London for 10 years. He was the founding director of Neal Street Productions and The Bridge Project. His work has been seen at the National Theatre, RSC, Royal Court, Old Vic, Young Vic, BAM, the West End, and on Broadway.
Films include American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Jarhead, Revolutionary Road, Away We Go, Skyfall, Spectre, and 1917. Awards include the Academy Award for Best Director and Best Picture and three other Academy Award nominations, five BAFTA Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, three Tony Awards, five Olivier Awards, the Olivier Special Award, three Evening Standard Awards, two Directors Guild of America Awards, the PGA award, the Jason Robards Award, and the Hamburg Shakespeare Prize.
He has also won the Director’s Guild Award for lifetime achievement. Sam is an Honorary Fellow of the National Film and Television School, and a fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge. He was made a CBE in 2000 and knighted in 2020 for services to drama.
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 $200 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.
Did this press release inform you? Would you like to comment on this article? If you do, we would respond. Do let us know your thoughts if you have any suggestions. So hit us up on Facebook, Instagram! or Twitter.
Follow TIFF on Social Media
Website
TikTok
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
YouTube
MORE STORIES FOR YOU
In Conversation with Michael Oblowitz Director of Confidential Informant
Confidential Informant stars Mel Gibson, Dominic Purcell, and Kate Bosworth
