Cate Blanchett thanked Knix, the underwear company, for sponsoring her TIFF Tribute Award on Sunday night, which was ironic since the Elisabeth And Carol actress apparently went all out for the glittering festival event.

“I don’t actually wear underwear,” Blanchett revealed, jokingly or not, as she wore a floor-length party dress onstage at the Royal York Hotel. “As Michelle Obama says, when I go low, you go high,” she added during a freestyle acceptance speech without the use of a teleprompter or her cell phone.

On a more serious note, Blanchett paid tribute to her female actors. “We have to keep asking questions that open closed doors and know our value — our value creatively and financially — because more inclusivity on our sets leads to less homogeneous and more vibrant stories,” she said.

“I think homogeneity is the enemy of everything we do,” said Blanchett, also the star of Tar And Blue Jasmineadded. Blanchett’s tribute award coincides with the Oscar winner starring in Canadian director Guy Maddin’s film Rumorswhich has a North American premiere in Toronto, and that of Alfonso Cuarón Disclaimera TV series shown as part of TIFF’s Primetime program.

The gala dinner, a fundraiser for TIFF’s philanthropic efforts — and occasional harbinger of Oscar recognition — is held annually at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel. Among the other passionate tributes on Sunday night, Angelina Jolie received the TIFF Tribute Award in Impact Media while screening her latest film, Without blood, to Toronto for a world premiere.

And while introducing Jolie, Salma Hayek Pinault admitted to stage fright. “I’m so emotional, and it’s not even my award,” the Without Blood star said before heaping praise on Jolie. Accepting her award, Jolie lamented that she wasn’t doing enough to protect human rights around the world while seeking unity through her films and art.

“In a world of broken promises, it often seems that power, control and business are more important than protecting the fragile fabric of human rights,” said Jolie, who in addition to making films about war in recent years is also a human rights activist. Jolie also introduced a private screening of Netflix’s Maria, in which she plays the role of opera legend Maria Callas, after a world premiere in Venice.

Oscar-nominated actress Amy Adams was overcome with emotion as she accepted the TIFF Tribute Performer Award after being introduced by Arrival director Denis Villeneuve, a native French speaker who touted his improved English when he brought her onstage. In addition to thanking Villeneuve for her presence onstage, Adams called on her daughter Aviana, 14, to attend her first-ever awards show, where her mother was among the winners.

“I feel truly honored to be here tonight among the activists, the artists and the visionaries who have inspired me, both on screen and off, for I won’t say how long, but it will be a long time,” Adams added from the stage at the Royal York Hotel.

Emmy-winning actor Jharrel Jerome, at TIFF with his latest film, Unstoppablewon a TIFF Tribute Award. “This story is something I believed in and I wanted to see it through, and bro look at us now,” Jerome told filmmaker William Goldenberg, a veteran editor making his directorial debut, with whom he worked for five years to create Unstoppable made.

Zhao Tao, who received a special tribute award as a longtime acting muse for Chinese auteur Jia Zhangke, told the awards festival that her honor came at the right time. “TIFF has given me encouragement when I needed it most. Thank you Toronto for your generosity,” Tao said. Proceeds from the tribute awards will go to the festival’s TIFF Every Story Fund, which promotes diversity, equity and inclusion in filmmaking.

Viggo Mortensen helped David Cronenberg accept the Norman Jewison Career Achievement Award, criticizing the Canadian director for never having been nominated, let alone winning, an Academy Award for his body of work. “That’s really remarkable and to me an astonishing fact, but I don’t think he cares much about that,” Mortensen said of Cronenberg’s Oscar ambitions.

Cronenberg is at TIFF this year for the North American premiere of his latest film, The shroudsthat bow in Cannes. “I just want to let you know, I think I should tell you, I’m exactly the same age as Joe Biden,” he revealed.

Elsewhere, Canadian director Durga Chew-Bose took home the TIFF Emerging Talent Award. She brought the adaptation of Françoise Sagan’s classic novel starring Chloë Sevigny to TIFF Hello Sadness for a world premiere.

Chew-Bose noted that her father died two days before she began filming her film. “I was named after a girl in a movie, and now I’ve made a movie, which is something my dad probably always knew would happen,” she said.

French songwriter-composer duo Camille Dalmais and Clément Ducol took to the stage at the Royal York Hotel to accept the TIFF Artisan Award for composing the soundtrack for Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Perez. And in another poignant moment, Ducol dedicated his TIFF honor to his own late father, also a composer, for giving his son “inspiration while he was alive and tremendous strength after he was gone.”

Mike Leigh was presented with his own Tribute Award when he returned to TIFF with the world premiere of Hard truths“This is a triple special honor. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been to TIFF. It’s a great public festival, that’s why I love it so much,” Leigh said.