The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), which opens this evening with a homegrown film (the hockey musical SCORE), does not have a formal film competition. However, aside from the Audience Awards and Best Canadian Feature prizes that will be announced at the end of the Festival, TIFF does bestow a few awards of note.

The first of these was announced today. The Canadian Media Production Association announced that veteran Quebec producer Denise Robert is the recipient of the fifth annual CMPA Producer’s Award, which includes a cash prize of CDN $10,000.  The Award was presented at the Festival’s new Filmmakers’ Lounge at the opening of the Toronto International Film Festival earlier today.

Robert, through her production company Cinémaginaire, is one of the most active producers in the country, whose past credits have included  Father and Guns (De père en flic), Days of Darkness (L’âge des ténèbres), The Rocket (Maurice Richard), The Barbarian Invasions (Les invasions barbares), Mambo Italiano, The Widow of Saint-Pierre (La Veuve de Saint-Pierre) and The Confessional (Le confessionnal).

Robert’s most recent project is Route 132, a powerful drama directed by Montreal-based filmmaker Louis Bélanger, which opened the Montreal World Film Festival two weeks ago and which premieres in Toronto on Friday.

Piers Handling, the longtime CEO and Co-Director of TIFF, praised Robert as having been "instrumental in bringing to the screen stories that resonate with Canadians.....her  body of work speaks for itself."

Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Dailies Editor