Toronto/CMEDIA: TIFF Tribute Award honourees have been announced by Cameron Bailey, CEO of TIFF, with Hildur Guðnadótti, Academy Award®–winning Icelandic artist and composer to be honored with the Variety Artisan Award, and Sally El Hosaini. Award-winning Welsh Egyptian filmmaker and screenwriter to be honored with the TIFF Emerging Talent Award presented by MGM at the annual TIFF Tribute Awards.
Presented by BVLGARI, TIFF Tribute Awards now in its fourth year will return to an in-person gala fundraiser during the 47th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday, September 11 at Fairmont Royal York Hotel.
Sarah Polley’s film Women Talking from MGM’s Orion Pictures is an adaptation of Miriam Toews’ acclaimed novel, the scores of which were composed by Guðnadóttir will have its International Premiere at the Festival on September 13.
Distributed by Universal Canada and starring Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey, Ben Whishaw, and Frances McDormand Women Talking is set in 2010 in rural America, where the women of an isolated religious community are challenged by reconciling their reality with their faith.
Written and directed by El Hosaini and co-written by multi-award-winner Jack Thorne, the film The Swimmers will be World Premiered as the Opening Night Gala Presentation on September 8.
The Swimmers reveals the true story of two sisters who left their home in war-torn Syria for a new life in Europe, and the chance to compete in the 2016 Summer Olympics,
The TIFF Variety Artisan Award recognizes a distinguished creative with excellence in their craft with an outstanding contribution to cinema and entertainment. Previous recipients of the TIFF Variety Artisan Award include Ari Wegner in 2021; Terence Blanchard in 2020; and Roger Deakins in 2019.
“Variety is honoured to be presenting Hildur Guðnadóttir with our annual Artisan Award at the TIFF Tribute Awards…at one of the most important festivals in the world…testament to Variety’s commitment to celebrating artisans,” ” Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh has said in TIFF media release.
Presented by MGM, the TIFF Emerging Talent Award is presented in the spirit of Torontonian Mary Pickford, the groundbreaking actor, producer, and co-founder of United Artists. Previous recipients of the TIFF Emerging Talent Award include Danis Goulet in 2021; Tracey Deer in 2020; and Mati Diop in 2019.
Guðnadóttir and El Hosaini join the recently-announced list of 2022 TIFF Tribute Award honourees, including Brendan Fraser, who will receive the TIFF Tribute Award for Performance presented by IMDbPro; Academy Award®–winning filmmaker Sam Mendes, who will receive the TIFF Ebert Director Award; and the ensemble of My Policeman, who will receive the TIFF Tribute Award for Performance presented by Polestar.
Honoring the film industry’s outstanding contributors and their achievements, recognizing leading industry members, acting talent, directorial expertise, new talent, TIFF Tribute Award 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.
HILDUR GUÐNADÓTTIR: BIOGRAPHY
An Academy Award–, Golden Globe–, Emmy-, two-time Grammy–, and BAFTA-winning Icelandic artist, Hildur Guðnadóttir is at the forefront of experimental pop and contemporary music. In her solo works, she draws out a broad spectrum of sounds from her instrumentation, ranging from intimate simplicity to huge soundscapes.
Her work for film and television includes Sicario: Day of the Soldado, Mary Magdalene, and the critically acclaimed HBO series Chernobyl, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award as well as a Grammy Award. Guðnadóttir received a multitude of accolades for her work on Joker, directed by Todd Phillips and starring Joaquin Phoenix, including an Academy Award, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Grammy. In addition, her body of work includes scores for films such as Tom of Finland, Journey’s End and 20 episodes of the Icelandic TV series Trapped, streaming on Amazon Prime. With Sam Slater she co-composed the videogame score Battlefield 2042 for Electronic Arts’ massively successful Battlefield franchise. The score won a Society of Composers & Lyricists Award.
Her latest projects include the Todd Field film TÁR, starring Cate Blanchett, and the Sarah Polley film Women Talking.
Starting to play cello as a child, Guðnadóttir entered the Reykjavík Music Academy, and then moved on to musical studies/composition and new media at the Iceland Academy of the Arts and Universität der Künste Berlin.
Having released four critically acclaimed solo albums: Mount A (2006), Without Sinking (2009), Leyfðu Ljósinu (2012), and Saman (2014), her records have been nominated many times for the Icelandic Music Awards. Her albums are all released on Touch. She has composed music for theatre, dance performances, and films. The Icelandic Symphony Orchestra, Icelandic National Theatre, Tate Modern, The British Film Institute, The Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, and Gothenburg National Theatre are among the institutions that have commissioned new works from her. Currently, she is curating an exhibit for the opening of the new Academy Museum in Los Angeles, set to open on September 28. She has also performed live and recorded music with Skúli Sverrisson, Jóhann Jóhannsson, múm, Sunn O))), Pan Sonic, Hauschka, Wildbirds & Peacedrums, Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Sylvian, The Knife, Fever Ray, and Throbbing Gristle, among others.
SALLY EL HOSAINI
An award-winning feature-film writer-director, Sally El Hosaini’s acclaimed debut feature, My Brother the Devil, premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and played at more than 40 international festivals; winning 12 awards, 17 nominations, and an honorable mention. The film won Best European Film at Berlinale, Best Newcomer at the BFI London Film Festival, Best Screenplay at the Writer’s Guild of Great Britain Awards, and was nominated for Best Debut at the British Independent Film Awards. The film was released theatrically in the UK, US, and Canada.
Later she was also chosen by Danny Boyle to direct the final three episodes of Babylon, the TV series he co-created and produced with Jesse Armstrong (Succession) for Channel 4 and Sundance TV. An alumna of the Sundance Institute’s Screenwriters and Directors Labs, El Hosaini has been profiled by The Guardian; BBC America; Variety, who featured her as one of their “Brits to Watch”; and IndieWire, who named her one of their “10 Most Exciting Young Female Directors in the World Today.”
El Hosaini’s upcoming feature, The Swimmers produced by Working Title Films and Netflix, with Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot) as an executive producer will be released theatrically and on Netflix in fall 2022. El Hosaini is represented in the UK by Sayle Screen and in the United States by CAA and Anonymous Content.
#TIFF; #TiffTributeAwards
