A little over a month ahead of the 50th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, Cameron Bailey, CEO, TIFF announces the first group of the festival’s recipients of this year’s TIFF Tribute Awards celebrating outstanding contributions to cinema and serving as the kick-off to awards season.
Among the honourees, Japanese writer, director, and producer HIKARI will receive the TIFF Emerging Talent Award, and South Korean actor Lee Byung Hun has been awarded the TIFF Special Tribute Award.
Best known for directing the drama 37 seconds, HIKARI also directed three episodes of BEEF. She will be in attendance at the festival for the world premiere of her upcoming comedy-drama Rental Family, starring Brendan Fraser, Mari Yamamoto, Takehiro Hira, and Akira Emoto. The film will be released in North America by Searchlight Pictures on November 21, 2025.
Lee Byung Hun is an acclaimed actor with over 30 years of work under his belt, including Joint Security Area, Masquerade, and most recently in Seasons 2 and 3 of the Netflix series Squid Game. In addition to his work in South Korea, Lee has starred in Hollywood films such as G.I. Joe: Rise of the Cobra, its sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation, and the Bruce Willis-led Red 2. Lee is also scheduled to attend this year’s festival in promotion of the North American premiere of No Other Choice, which reunites him with director Park Chan-wook.
Alongside HIKARI and Lee, TIFF will also honour Guillermo del Toro with the TIFF Ebert Director Award, Jodie Foster will receive the TIFF Share Her Journey Groundbreaker Award, and Brendan Fraser will return to the Tribute Awards as the 2025 Honorary Chair.
TIFF 2025 runs from September 4–14, 2025.
