TVO is pleased to announce that internationally acclaimed screenwriter, director and producer Deepa Mehta will be honoured at the 5th annual TVO Tribute Gala, taking place on Thursday, October 27, 2024.

The TVO Tribute Gala celebrates and honours those who show how learning has the power to change the world. Deepa Mehta will be recognized for her ground-breaking use of film to help people learn about and understand the issues that define our time.

Deepa Mehta is an Oscar-nominated, internationally celebrated transnational filmmaker whose award-winning body of work explores the human condition. She is best known for her epic Elemental Trilogy: Fire (1996), Earth (1998) and Water (2005), the latter of which earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. Her provocative, daring films challenge cultural traditions and stereotypes and explore social injustices.

“Deepa Mehta is a visionary creative mind and TVO is proud to pay tribute to her many accomplishments in the milieu of film,” says Lisa de Wilde, TVO’s Chief Executive Officer. “Her thought-provoking body of work has seen critical and box office success, but its legacy is in educating audiences on social issues and in sparking civic discourse around these themes. TVO shares this passion for the importance of dialogue and debate because they are critical to building an engaged citizenry.”

“I am very pleased to accept this honour from TVO,” says Deepa Mehta. “It is both a passion and mission of mine to use my art form to share the stories and lives of people in a compelling way, and to engage audiences near and far in these stories. Like TVO, I believe that an understanding of what we and others experience as humans is important for a strong civil society.”

Steve Paikin, host of TVO’s flagship current affairs program, The Agenda with Steve Paikin, will be the master of ceremonies at this year’s gala event. The gala will be held at the Fermenting Cellar in Toronto’s Distillery District.

TVO’s marquee fundraising event, the annual TVO Tribute Gala highlights TVO’s vision to create a better world through the power of learning and helps build sustainable philanthropic support for innovative, educational products, in-depth current affairs, ground-breaking documentaries, and award-winning TVOKids content.

Past honourees have included Sheldon Levy, former President and Vice-Chancellor of Ryerson University; Isabel Bassett and Peter Herrndorf, former TVO Chairs and CEOs; William G. Davis, TVO’s visionary founder; and Steve Paikin, acclaimed journalist and writer.