International reporter
Mike Leigh – Lifetime Achievement Award
British filmmaker Mike Leigh will be honored with the TIFF Ebert Director Award for Career Achievement at this year's Toronto Film Festival. The announcement was made this morning by TIFF head Cameron Bailey.
Leigh returns to TIFF this year for the world premiere of his 23rd film, Hard Truths, which will screen as part of the Special Presentations program. He reunites with Academy Award nominee Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Secrets & Lies) in the film described as an “intimate study of modern family life.” Hard Truths is distributed by Bleecker Street in the U.S. and Mongrel Media in Canada. Leigh had eight films in the festival’s Official Selection, including Another Year, Happy-Go-Lucky and Mr. Turner.
The award is named after legendary film critic Roger Ebert. Previous winners of the award include Martin Scorsese, Claire Denis, Ava DuVernay, Wim Wenders and the late Agnès Varda.
