Sir Samuel Alexander Mendes CBE (born 1 August 1965) is an English film and stage director, producer and screenwriter. In theatre, he is known for his dark re-inventions of the stage musicals Cabaret (1994), Oliver! (1994), Company (1995), and Gypsy (2003). He directed an original West End stage musical for the first time with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2013).
For directing the play The Ferryman, Mendes was awarded the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play in 2019.
Sam Mendes is set to be honoured by the Toronto International Film Festival. On Tuesday, TIFF announced that the “1917” director will received the festival’s Ebert Director Award as part of the TIFF Tribute Awards gala on Sept.
11. READ MORE: Hillary Clinton Coming To TIFF Industry Conference To Present Docuseries Mendes made his TIFF debut with “American Beauty” in 1999, which won the Audience Choice Award, and went on to win Best Picture and Best Director at the Oscars the following year. “From his first appearance at TIFF with American Beauty, director Sam Mendes brought his exacting and lyrical vision of cinema to Toronto,” said TIFF CEO Bailey. “We are delighted to honour his unique voice and body of work with this year’s TIFF Ebert Director Award.” Mendes will also be presenting his latest film, “Empire of Light”, at the festival for its Canadian premiere. READ MORE: ‘Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On’ To Premiere At TIFF 2022 Starring Olivia Colman, Micheal Ward, Tom Brooke, Tanya Moodie, Hannah Onslow, Crystal Clarke, with Toby Jones and Colin Firth, the film is described as “a powerful and poignant story about human connection and the magic of cinema.” The Ebert Director Award, which was previously the Roger Ebert Golden Thumb Award, has been awarded to Martin Scorsese, Claire Denis, Ava DuVernay, Wim Wenders, Denis Villeneuve, Chloé Zhao, Taika Waititi and the late Agnès Varda.
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