The Toronto Film Festival is set to honor Dune director Denis Villeneuve and Indigenous filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin at its upcoming 46th edition.
Villeneuve will receive the TIFF Ebert Director Award at the third annual TIFF Tribute Awards, while veteran doc maker Obomsawin will be honored with the Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media.
Dune, Villeneuve’s reboot of the sci-fi classic, and starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac and Josh Brolin, will have its world premiere out-of-competition at the Venice Film Festival, before shifting to Toronto and Montreal for special event screenings at Imax theaters in both cities.
Toronto will also offer a career retrospective of films by Obomsawin entitled Celebrating Alanis. Obomsawin, having made movies for five decades for the National Film Board of Canada, is known for titles like Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, Waban-aki: People From Where the Sun Rises and Is The Crown At War With Us?
Villeneuve is also known for Hollywood and indie movies like Blade Runner 2049, Arrival, Sicario, Enemy, Prisoners and Incendies.
“What is truly beautiful is that this year, we are celebrating two incredible filmmakers, both of whom have deep personal ties to this country and have contributed to our cinematic landscape in very unique ways,” Joana Vicente, co-head of the Toronto Film Festival, said in a statement.
This year’s TIFF Tribute Awards gala will be part of Toronto’s hybrid digital and in-person event to run from Sept. 9 to 18.
