TIFF Announces Dionne Warwick & Danis Goulet as Honourees of 2021 TIFF Tribute Awards

Joana Vicente and Cameron Bailey, Co-Heads of TIFF, announced TODAY that six-time Grammy Award-winning music icon and activist Dionne Warwick will be honoured at the TIFF Tribute Awards with the Special Tribute Award, and that Night Raiders director and Saskatchewan-born Cree/Métis filmmaker Danis Goulet will receive this year's TIFF Emerging Talent Award, presented by L'Oréal Paris and supported by MGM. The 2021 TIFF Tribute Awards air on Saturday, September 18 at 7 p.m. ET on CTV, the final day of the 46th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival. The show will be streamed to global audiences by Variety.

Aside from their awards, both honorees will have films premiered at the festival. Dave Wooley and David Heilbroner's documentary Dionne Warwick: DON'T Make Me Over will have its World Premiere in the TIFF Docs programme, and Goulet's Night Raiders will screen as a Gala Presentation for its North American premiere during the Festival. DON'T Make Me Over is an inspiring documentary portrait that chronicles the iconic singer's fascinating six-decade career in both music and Black and LGBTQ activism. Night Raiders is set in a post-apocalyptic future, where the state removes children from their families and trains them to be soldiers at a boarding school. The film will be released in theatres across Canada this fall.

"We are excited to be announcing a music industry icon, alongside an exceptional emerging talent," said Joana Vicente, Executive Director and Co-Head, TIFF. "A legend in her own right, Dionne Warwick has been charting firsts her entire career, a six-decade hitmaker with boundless talent, and a tireless activist for LGBTQ+ rights, and Danis Goulet is a visionary filmmaker, using film as a powerful vehicle for Indigenous storytelling and social change."

Known as the artist who "bridged the gap," Warwick's soulful blend of pop, gospel and R&B music transcends race, culture, and musical boundaries. She received her first Grammy Award in 1968 for her mega-hit, "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?," and a second in 1970 for the best-selling album "I'll Never Fall in Love Again." With 75 charted hit songs and over 100 million records sold, Warwick was the first African-American solo female artist of her generation to win a prestigious Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Female Vocalist Performance. She also received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Danis Goulet is a Cree/Métis writer and director. Her films have screened at festivals around the world including Berlinale, Sundance, MoMA, and the Toronto International Film Festival. She is a former programmer for TIFF and a former director of the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival. Her debut feature, Night Raiders, premiered in the Panorama section of the 2021 Berlinale and will be a Gala Presentation at TIFF 2021. Goulet also recently wrapped production on the Netflix thriller Ivy, starring Alice Braga. She is originally from La Ronge, Saskatchewan, and now lives in Toronto.

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