‘Especially satisfying’: Cronenberg on getting award dedicated to late friend Jewison

By Alex Goudge, The Canadian Press on September 8, 2024.

David Cronenberg arrives on the red carpet at the TIFF Tribute Awards, during the Toronto International Film Festival, in Toronto, on Sunday, Sep. 8, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Arlyn McAdorey

TORONTO – David Cronenberg debuted his latest feature “The Shrouds” in Cannes but says he won’t really feel like he’s shared the film until it hits Toronto.

The homegrown filmmaker’s latest feature is set to make its North American premiere Wednesday at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Cronenberg made the comments while appearing at the festival’s Tribute Awards to accept the Norman Jewison Career Achievement Award.

The 79-year-old director says the honour is “especially satisfying and sweet” given his long-running friendship with the late Jewison, who he said was a big supporter of his work.

Other stars at the Tribute Awards included Angelina Jolie who received the Award in Impact Media; Cate Blanchett, who picked up the Share Her Journey Groundbreaker Award; and Amy Adams, who accepted a performer’s prize for her role in Marielle Heller’s “Nightbitch.”

The Tribute Awards celebrate the film industry’s “outstanding contributors” and raise funds for TIFF’s year-round programs.

Described as a film steeped in grief, “The Shrouds” centres on an entrepreneur still grieving the death of his wife four years earlier. It made its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival back in May.

“Until I’ve shown the film in Toronto, I haven’t really shown the film. That’s the way it feels,” Cronenberg said Sunday just before the TIFF bash began.

“It can be shown in Europe and the U.S. but until it’s back in Toronto, I haven’t really shown it. Especially ‘The Shrouds,’ which was, of course, shot here and conceived here and has some resonances of my life here in Toronto.”

The Toronto International Film Festival runs through Sunday.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 8, 2024.