TIFF48: Pedro Almodóvar and Spike Lee to Receive Toronto International Film Festival Tribute Awards

Academy Award–winning directors Pedro Almodóvar and Spike Lee have been announced as the first honorees of this year’s Tribute Awards at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. One of the world’s foremost filmmakers and provocative storytellers, Almodóvar will receive the Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media presented by Participant, and Spike Lee, a cultural icon who has influenced generations of filmmakers, will receive the TIFF Ebert Director Award. 

“It’s a true thrill to acknowledge Pedro Almodóvar as the distinguished recipient of the Jeff Skoll Impact Media Award for 2023,” Cameron Bailey, CEO, TIFF. “Pedro has been coming to TIFF for years and each time is better than the time before. His artistic vision, bold storytelling, and unwavering commitment to pushing the boundaries of cinema have had a profound impact on cinema. He challenges societal norms, champions diversity, and illuminates the human experience with sensitivity and grace. We applaud his contributions to cinema and celebrate his ability to inspire and provoke audiences worldwide.” 

Almodóvar was born in Calzada de Calatrava, Spain and left for Madrid at 17 to study cinema and direct film, but it became impossible when the National School of Cinema (in Madrid) was closed by the Franco government. As a result, Almodóvar was [mostly] self-taught, making a number of short films from 1974-1978. His first feature film, Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls on the Heap debuted in 1980. He launched his production company El Deseo with his brother Agustín in 1986, and has since produced, written and directed his own and other directors’ films. Some of his films have been adapted into plays (All About My Mother) and even into musicals (Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown). The filmmaker has received numerous accolades over his five-decade career, including one of Spain’s top prizes for outstanding achievement, the Prince of Asturias Award (2006), and honorary degrees from Harvard University (2009) and Oxford University (2016). Three of films have been nominated for the International Feature Film Oscar (formerly title Foreign Language Film): 1988’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, 1999’s All About My Mother, which won, and 2019’s Pain and Glory. Almodóvar received two Oscar nominations for his 2002 film Talk to Her, for directing and writing, winning Original Screenplay that year.

The Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media presented by Participant recognizes leadership in creating a union between social impact and cinema. Past recipients honoured in the prestigious category include Buffy Sainte-Marie in 2022, Alanis Obomsawin in 2021 and Mira Nair in 2020. 

“The TIFF Ebert Director Award recognizes filmmakers who have exemplified greatness in their career,” continued Bailey. “A foremost storyteller of our era, Spike’s body of work from She’s Gotta Have it, to Do the Right Thing to Mo’ Better Blues, to his most recent film at TIFF 2021, American Utopia, Spike has inspired audiences and made a lasting impact on the art of filmmaking.” Lee, a graduate of Morehouse College and NYU Graduate Film School, is also a tenured Film Professor and Artistic Director at NYU Graduate Film School. He received his first of five Oscar nominations for his 1989’s Do the Right Thing (Original Screenplay), followed up by a Documentary Feature nomination for his 1998 film 4 Little Girls. He was the 2016 recipient of the Honorary Oscar but then just three years later was triple-nominated for BlacKkKlansman as producer, director and writer and won the Oscar for Adapted Screenplay for the film.

Named after legendary film critic Roger Ebert, the Award has gone to celebrated visionaries such as Martin Scorsese, Claire Denis, Ava DuVernay, Wim Wenders, and the late Agnès Varda. Past recipients who received the Award since the TIFF Tribute Awards were introduced include Sam Mendes (2022) Denis Villeneuve (2021), Chloé Zhao (2020), and Taika Waititi (2019). 

Bulgari returns as a major sponsor and official jewellery partner of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, also presenting the Share Her Journey Groundbreaker Award at the 2023 Tribute Awards. 

The Awards night serves as TIFF’s largest annual fundraiser, having raised $1.3 million in 2022. This year, the Tribute Awards gala will support the Viola Desmond Cinema campaign, which was launched through the Every Story Fund in 2022.

For the full lineups of the main section of TIFF as well as Midnight Madness and Discovery, Platform and Docs, go here.

Photos: Iglesias Mas/El Deseo D.A. S.L.U./Spike Lee