TIFF Tribute Awards 2026 names Penélope Cruz and Isabelle Huppert
Penélope Cruz, Lee Chang-dong, Rosalind Eleazar, Siân Heder and Isabelle Huppert are the first TIFF Tribute Awards honorees.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
Penélope Cruz, Lee Chang-dong, Rosalind Eleazar, Siân Heder and Isabelle Huppert are in the first wave of names set for the TIFF Tribute Awards 2026, with the Toronto festival handing out honors across acting, directing and impact in film.
The gala is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 13, at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto. TIFF describes the Tribute Awards as the festival’s largest annual fundraiser.
Who is being honored at the TIFF Tribute Awards 2026?
Cruz will receive the TIFF Special Tribute Award presented by CHANEL. TIFF says the prize recognizes a person whose work has made an unusual and lasting mark on cinema through artistry and dedication.
The actor has two films at this year’s festival: La Bola Negra and Florian Zeller’s Bunker. Cruz won the 2009 Oscar for supporting actress for Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and her upcoming slate includes Isabel Coixet’s adaptation of Elena Ferrante’s The Days of Abandonment, the thriller Day Drinker and Nancy Meyers’ untitled theatrical Christmas 2027 release.
Lee Chang-dong is set for the TIFF Ebert Director Award presented by the Tory Family. He is returning to Toronto with the Special Presentations premiere of Netflix’s Possible Love, described as a story about relationships and divides of age and class.
Lee’s filmography includes Peppermint Candy, Oasis, Secret Sunshine and Burning. Oasis won the Silver Lion at Venice, while Burning reached the Oscar shortlist for international feature.
What are the TIFF Tribute Awards?
The TIFF Tribute Awards are honors presented during the Toronto International Film Festival to recognize major work in screen performance, directing and socially minded filmmaking. Past winners across the categories include Guillermo del Toro, Mike Leigh, Spike Lee, Sam Mendes, Denis Villeneuve, Chloé Zhao, Meryl Streep, Joaquin Phoenix, Kate Winslet and Anthony Hopkins.
Eleazar and Huppert will both receive TIFF Tribute Performer Awards, which recognize an artist’s overall body of work. Eleazar comes to TIFF this year with Chris Rock’s Misty Green, after previously appearing at the festival with the world premiere of The Personal History of David Copperfield in 2019.
Eleazar also starred in Apple TV’s Slow Horses from 2022 to 2025. On stage, she most recently appeared with Ralph Fiennes in Small Hotel during the Theatre Royal Bath season.
Huppert arrives with Marc Fitoussi’s Gala Presentation All About Corinne. In the film, she plays a background actor who sees a late opening into the unstable world of French cinema. Her career spans more than 100 movies, and she earned a best actress Oscar nomination for Elle in 2017.
Heder will receive the TIFF Tribute Award in Impact Media, presented by Anne-Marie Canning. TIFF says the award honors leadership that connects social impact with cinema.
Heder’s Apple Original Films documentary Being Heumann is the festival’s opening night film and will have its world premiere at TIFF. She won the adapted screenplay Oscar for CODA in 2022, one of that film’s three Academy Awards, along with best picture and supporting actor for Troy Kotsur.
TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey said the eighth year of the awards celebrates film’s transformative power, citing the performances of Huppert, Cruz and Eleazar alongside the filmmaking of Lee and Heder.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.