The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and CBC have named Montreal-based Miryam Charles as the inaugural recipient of the Charles Officer Legacy Award.

The award was presented at TIFF’s annual Canada’s Top Ten opening ceremony on Wednesday (Feb. 5). As part of the award, Charles receives $25,000, a TIFF Industry Membership for one year and an industry pass for the festival’s 2025 edition.

The award was created in memory of Canadian filmmaker and writer Charles Officer, who died in 2023. It seeks to recognize a Black director and/or writer whose work exemplifies the creative excellence, strong point of view, and community mindedness of Officer.

The jury consisted of Kishwar Iqbal, co-owner, Gary Goddard Agency; Anita Lee, TIFF’s chief programming officer; Lea Marin, director of development, drama, CBC; and Jake Yanowski, a producer who frequently collaborated with Officer on projects such as Akilla’s Escape and Invisible Essence: The Little Prince.

“Miryam is a person whose vision, creativity and commitment to storytelling truly embody the spirit of the award,” said the jury in a statement. “We’re proud to celebrate Miryam, and know Charles would have jumped at the opportunity for them to connect and learn from each other.”

The Haitian-Canadian filmmaker marked her debut feature in 2022 with Cette maison (Embuscade Films). The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival and was later selected for TIFF’s Canada’s Top Ten.

“I never met Charles,” said Miryam at the ceremony. “I always said to myself, ‘One day, when I am a more established filmmaker, I will meet him at a soiree and I will tell him how much his work meant to me.’ And I’m so sorry that I didn’t have the chance to tell him in person.”

At the same ceremony, TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey announced that the TIFF Film Circuit has been renamed to the Donald Shebib TIFF Film Circuit to honour the late Canadian filmmaker. The renaming is thanks to a donation from Shebib’s son, record producer and executive Noah “40” Shebib, via his non-profit 40 Foundation.

According to a Wednesday TIFF release, the contribution from the Shebib family will bolster the film outreach programme, expanding access to communities across Canada.

TIFF also announced that TIFF Cinematheque will celebrate the more than 30-year career of Indian-Canadian director Deepa Mehta in April with the retrospective Through the Fire: The Films of Deepa Mehta.

Some of Mehta’s previous films include 2002’s Bollywood/Hollywood, 2015’s Beeba Boys, 2016’s Anatomy of Violence and the Elements trilogy Fire (1997), Earth (1998) and Water (2005).

Image courtesy of TIFF; photo by Claudie-Ann Landry