Guillermo del Toro, Jodie Foster, Hikari and Lee Byung-hun are among the names who will be honored at the Toronto International Film Festival’s Tribute Awards on Sept. 7. TIFF announced that these four artists will each be recognized for their contributions to film at the 50th anniversary of the festival.
Alongside these honorees, TIFF also announced that it would host the North American premiere of “No Other Choice,” the latest film from Park Chan-wook. Lee stars in the film, which will have its world premiere at Venice International Film Festival.
Brendan Fraser will serve as the 2025 Honorary Chair at the Tribute Awards. The Oscar-winning actor received a Tribute Performer Award in 2022 when he brought “The Whale” to TIFF. Fraser follows Sandra Oh, who became the ceremony’s first Honorary Chair in 2024.
“I’m honoured to return to Toronto once again and to the TIFF Tribute Awards, this time not as a recipient, but as this year’s Honorary Chair,” Fraser said in a statement. “TIFF has been meaningful to me and to be in this role during the Festival’s landmark 50th edition is a privilege. TIFF continues to champion the kind of bold storytelling that brings people together, and I’m thrilled to celebrate this year’s Tribute recipients.”
2025 marks the seventh annual Tribute Awards at TIFF, with the ceremony launching in 2019. Each year, the TIFF board selects a list of honorees — all of them cast and crew members of that year’s TIFF-screened films — for various categories of recognition. As of 2023, there are eight awards at the festival each year, including two Performer Awards. In the past, a male and a female have each taken one of the two Performer Award slots, though the ceremony recognized an ensemble of six performers from “My Policeman” in 2022 alongside Fraser.
This year, del Toro will receive the TIFF Ebert Director Award. The director’s new feature, “Frankenstein,” will screen at TIFF after having its world premiere at Venice International Film Festival. “Frankenstein,” which will have a Gala Presentation at TIFF, releases worldwide on Netflix in November. Previous winners of the Ebert Director Award, named after famed film critic Roger Ebert, include Spike Lee, Mike Leigh, Denis Villeneuve and Chloé Zhao.
Foster will be recognized with the TIFF Share Her Journey Groundbreaker Award at the ceremony. This award, established in 2022, recognizes women who have made significant efforts toward championing and supporting other women in the film industry. Foster travels to TIFF with “A Private Life,” directed by Rebecca Zlotowski, following its 2025 Cannes Film Festival debut. Past recipients of the Share Her Journey Groundbreaker Award are Michelle Yeoh, Patricia Arquette and Cate Blanchett.
The festival board will recognize writer/director Hikari with the TIFF Emerging Talent Award. Hikari’s second feature, “Rental Family,” will have its world premiere at the festival. Her debut, “37 Seconds,” previously screened at TIFF in 2019. Hikari directed “Rental Family” and wrote it alongside Stephen Blahut. Along with his Honorary Chair position, Fraser will attend TIFF as the star of “Rental Family,” which will release Nov. 21 from Searchlight Pictures.
Lee Byung-hun will receive the TIFF Special Tribute Award at the Sept. 7 ceremony, recognizing his career in both South Korea and Hollywood. The actor, who recently appeared in both “KPop Demon Hunters” and the final season of “Squid Game” on Netflix, will attend the festival with the North American premiere of Park Chan-wook’s “No Other Choice.”
“We’re thrilled to announce this year’s recipients, each of whom has left an indelible mark on the cinematic landscape: from the commanding talent of Lee Byung Hun; the visionary imagination of maestro Guillermo del Toro; the evocative storytelling of HIKARI; to the incomparable career of actor, filmmaker, and icon Jodie Foster. We’re honoured to welcome these exceptional artists to Toronto for the seventh annual Tribute Awards,” said TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey in a statement. “We’re also delighted to welcome back Brendan Fraser, our 2022 Tribute Performer Award recipient, as this year’s Honorary Chair, a beloved artist and past honouree whose warmth, generosity, and passion for storytelling truly embody the spirit of our Festival.”
More honorees will be announced by TIFF ahead of the Sept. 7 awards gala. The festival will take place from Sept. 4-14, 2025.
