Joana Vicente and Cameron Bailey, Co-Heads of TIFF, announced that
cinematographer Ari Wegner will be honoured with the theTIFFVarietyArtisan Award at this year’s
TIFF Tribute Awards. The award recognizes a distinguished creative who has excelled at their
craft and made an outstanding contribution to cinema and entertainment. For the second
straight year, the TIFF Tribute Awards will be broadcast on Saturday, September 18 at7pm
ET/PT, 8pm on CTV and everywhere CTV content can be found, on the final day of the 46th
edition of the Toronto International Film Festival®, and will be streamed to a global audience by
Variety, the exclusive trade media partner of the event. Academy Award-winning
cinematographer Roger Deakins and Academy Award-nominated and six-time Grammy
Award-winning composer Terence Blanchard are previous recipients of the award.
Wegner’s career began to take off with Night Shift by Zia Mandviwalla, which went to Cannes in
2012. She has worked both on television and film projects,includingThe Girlfriend Experience,
True History of the Kelly Gang, In Fabric, Stray, Ruin, and Lady Macbeth. She recently worked on
Janicza Bravo’sZola, which was released by A24 this summer. Her work will next be seen in
Netflix’s The Power of the Dog, directed by Jane Campion and starring Benedict Cumberbatch (a
fellow TIFF Tribute honouree) and Kirsten Dunst, which will screen at TIFF.
“We are absolutely thrilled to honour Ari Wegner with this year’sTIFFVarietyArtisan Award and
to showcase her illustrious career in film and television,” said Vicente. “Ari brings such a
transformative and unique style to all of her projects, including her stunning cinematography in
The power of the Dog. We can’t wait for our audiences to see the Special Presentation of this
powerful film during the Festival.”
“Ari approaches every project she works on with such a thoughtful and creative gaze,” said
Steven Gaydos, Executive Vice President, Content ExecutiveEditor, Variety. “Her work is inspiring
and groundbreaking, and we are looking forward to being able to honour her incredible work and
contributions at this year’s awards.”
The 2021 TIFF Tribute honourees include the recently announced music legend Dionne Warwick
as the recipient of the Special Tribute Award; Saskatchewan-bornCree/Métis filmmaker Danis
Gouletas the recipient of theTIFF Emerging Talent Award, presented by L’Oréal Paris and
supported by MGM; two-time Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain, who will receive the
TIFF Tribute Actor Award supported by the Tory Family, and Academy Award-nominated
Benedict Cumberbatch, who will receive the TIFF Tribute Actor Award; Academy
Award-nominated French Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, who will receive the TIFF Ebert
Director Award; and award-winning documentary filmmaker, writer, singer, and activist Alanis
Obomsawin, who will be honoured with the Jeff SkollAward in Impact Media supported by
Participant Media.
The TIFF Tribute Awards honour the film industry’s outstanding contributors and their
achievements, recognizing leading industry members, acting talent, directorial expertise, new
talent, and a below-the-line artist and creator. The Awards also serve as TIFF’s largest annual
fundraiser to support TIFF’s year-round programmes and core mission to transform the way
people see the world through film. This year’s event will raise funds for TIFF’s diversity, equity
and inclusion initiative and champion a safe, community-focused and inspiring return to
cinemas. In 2020 the TIFF Tribute Awards celebrated the remarkable talents and contributions
of Mira Nair, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Kate Winslet, ChloéZhao, Terence Blanchard, and Tracey Deer,
some of whom went on to win awards on the international stage — such as Zhao (Nomadland),
Deer (Beans), and Hopkins (The Father). Meryl Streep, Taika Waititi, Mati Diop, Joaquin Phoenix,
and Roger Deakins were celebrated during the Awards’inaugural event in 2019.
