Photo by Gage Skidmore

TORONTO​ — Joana Vicente and Cameron Bailey, Co-Heads of TIFF, today announced that Academy Award–nominated New Zealand filmmaker ​Taika Waititi​ will be honoured with theTIFF Ebert Director Award​ at this year’s new TIFF Tribute Gala awards event. The award recognizes and honours a distinguished filmmaker for their outstanding contribution to cinema.Taking place on Monday, September 9 at Fairmont Royal York, during the 44th Toronto International Film Festival, the Gala is an annual fundraiser to support TIFF’s year-round programmes and core mission to transform the way people see the world through film, and to celebrate the film industry’s outstanding contributors.

“Taika Waititi is one of the most innovative, bold, and exciting filmmakers working in theindustry right now,” said Vicente. “TIFF is thrilled to honour his extraordinary talent with the inaugural TIFF Ebert Director Award.”

“Taika Waititi is the rock star cinema needs right now,” said Bailey. “His films are full of razor-sharp humour, faultless style, and boundless generosity. Somehow he manages to stuffboth indie hits and massive crowd-pleasers with big, radical ideas. We’re thrilled to be premiering his latest, ​Jojo Rabbit​, at the Festival and to hand over the inaugural TIFF Tribute Award for direction to this 21st-century master.

”Waititi directed the superhero film ​Thor: Ragnarok,​ which made over $850 million at the box office worldwide, and will write and direct the upcoming ​Thor: Love and Thunder.​ His films as writer-director also include ​Boy​ and ​Hunt for the Wilderpeople​, and he co-wrote, co-directed, and co-starred in ​What We Do in the Shadows​ with Jemaine Clement. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his short ​Two Cars, One Night​. Waititi’s upcoming anti-hate satire ​Jojo Rabbit​, starring Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Rebel Wilson, Stephen Merchant, AlfieAllen, Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson, and Waititi himself, will have its world premiere at TIFFand will be released by Fox Searchlight on October 18, 2019.

The ​TIFF Ebert Director Award ​is an evolution of the organization’s former Roger Ebert GoldenThumb Award, which celebrated a remarkable filmmaker who reflected renowned film criticRoger Ebert’s passion for cinema. Past recipients include Claire Denis, Martin Scorsese, AvaDuVernay, Agnès Varda, and Wim Wenders.

TIFF previously announced that three-time Academy Award–winning actor ​Meryl Streep​ will receive the ​TIFF Tribute Actor Award​,​ ​sponsored by RBC, and that ​Participant Media ​will receive the​ TIFF Impact Award​ at the Gala, accepted by Founder and Chairman Jeff Skoll and CEODavid Linde. One other recipient of the ​TIFF Tribute Actor Award​ will be announced in the coming weeks, in addition to the recipient of the​ ​inaugural​ Mary Pickford Award​, honouring a female emerging talent in the industry in celebration of United Artists’ 100th anniversary.The 44th Toronto International Film Festival runs September 5–15, 2019

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