Penelope Cruz, Isabelle Huppert Set for Toronto Tributes Awards

Penélope Cruz, Sian Heder, Isabelle Huppert, Rosalind Eleazar and Lee Chang-dong are set to receive TIFF Tribute Awards at the upcoming Toronto Film Festival.

Oscar–winning actor Cruz will receive a Special Tribute Award as she touts two movies in Toronto, the Spanish drama epic La Bola Negra and Florian Zeller’s Bunker, both of which premiered in Cannes.

Korean auteur Lee Chang-dong will pick up the Ebert Director Award as he brings Possible Love to TIFF. Netflix has set a theatrical release in Korea, U.S. and other select territories for Lee’s first film in eight years after premieres in Venice and Toronto. Eleazar will receive a Performer Award as she helps launch in Toronto in Chris Rock’s Misty Green, the comedian’s latest effort as a film writer/director in which Eleazar stars as Misty Green.

Elsewhere, fellow actor Huppert will also receive a Performer Award as her latest film, Marc Fitoussi’s All About Corinne, gets gala treatment in Toronto. Also at the Sept. 13 fundraiser, Oscar–winning CODA filmmaker Heder will receive the Impact Media award as she brings her latest movie, Being Heumann, to Toronto for a world premiere.  

Proceeds from the Tribute Awards go towards the festival’s year-round talent development programs that encourage diversity, equity and inclusion in filmmaking. The gala dinner fundraiser for the fest’s philanthropic efforts is also an occasional harbinger of Oscar recognition and is held each year at Fairmont Royal York Hotel. 

TIFF Tribute Award honorees tend to have films in Toronto’s official lineup. The 51st Toronto Film Festival is set to run Sept. 10 to 20.