Canadian producer-director Shawn Levy (Free Guy, Deadpool 3) will receive the inaugural Norman Jewison Award. Named in honor of the legendary Canadian filmmaker, the Norman Jewison Career Achievement Award is presented by The Budman Family, and recognizes Canadians in the film industry who have made a global impact with their careers. The awards presentation will take place at the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) Tribute Awards gala fundraiser on Sunday, September 10, at Fairmont Royal York Hotel.
The Montreal-born Levy, known for the blockbuster award-winning series Stranger Things and the hit franchise Night at the Museum, will be showcasing his latest work at the Festival–All the Light We Cannot See, based on the Pulitzer Prize–winning novel–which he directed and produced through his production company 21 Laps. Levy has been at the forefront of creating global sensations including Free Guy, The Adam Project, and the Academy Award®–nominated thriller Arrival.
“We’re honored to present this new Award, named after legendary Canadian filmmaker Norman Jewison, whose commitment to developing Canadian cinema and impact on the global stage is unmatched,” said TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey. “With a multi-faceted career spanning over three decades, Shawn Levy has become one of the most versatile filmmakers and storytellers of his generation, and we’re thrilled for him to be the inaugural recipient of this Award.”
Levy joins the recently announced 2023 TIFF Tribute Award honorees Pedro Almodรณvar, recipient of the Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media presented by Participant, and Spike Lee, recipient of the TIFF Ebert Director Award. Past honorees Michelle Yeoh, Brendan Fraser, Jessica Chastain, Roger Deakins, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Joaquin Phoenix, Taika Waititi, and Chloรฉ Zhao have gone on to win awards on the international stage, with the Tribute Awards serving as an awards bellwether.
All the Light We Cannot See is a Netflix Original series based on Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize–winning book of the same name, and follows the story of Marie-Laure (Aria Mia Loberti), a blind French girl, and her father, Daniel LeBlanc (Mark Ruffalo), who flee German-occupied Paris with a legendary diamond to keep it from falling into the hands of the Nazis. The first two episodes of the series will be presented as part of TIFF’s Primetime program, a showcase featuring compelling series from Canada and around the world.
Now in its fifth year, the Tribute Awards gala is TIFF’s largest annual fundraiser, having raised $1.3 million in 2022, and is presented by Bulgari, sharing their commitment to arts and culture along with TIFF. This year, the Tribute Awards gala will support the Viola Desmond Cinema campaign, which was launched through the Every Story Fund in 2022.
Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults โ two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
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