LAURA DERN TO RECEIVE CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD AT 31st ANNUAL PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVALFILM AWARDS GALA
Palm Springs, CA – The 31st annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will present Laura Dern with the Career Achievement Award at its annual Film Awards Gala. The event, presented by American Express, sponsored by AT&T and Entertainment Tonight and hosted by Mary Hart, is scheduled for Thursday, January 2 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The festival runs January 2-13, 2020.
Harold Matzner, PSIFF Chairman
“Laura Dern is one of the most outstanding and talented actresses of her generation. Over her 40-year acting career she has brought to the screen so many memorable performances including three from this year alone in Big Little Lies, Little Women and Marriage Story,” said Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “In Marriage Story she gives yet another career-defining and effortless performance as a successful lawyer leading her client through a divorce from her husband. It is our great honor to present the Career Achievement Award to the phenomenal Laura Dern.”
Past recipients of the Career Achievement Award include Annette Bening, Kevin Costner, Bruce Dern, Clint Eastwood, Sally Field, Morgan Freeman, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson, and Spike Lee. Dern joins this year’s previously announced honorees Antonio Banderas (International Star Award, Actor), Zack Gottsagen (Rising Star Award), Jennifer Lopez (Spotlight Award), Joaquin Phoenix (Chairman’s Award), Martin Scorsese (Sonny Bono Visionary Award), Charlize Theron (International Star Award, Actress) and Renée Zellweger (Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actress).
From Netflix, Marriage Story is Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Noah Baumbach’s incisive and compassionate look at a marriage breaking up and a family staying together. Marriage Story debuted earlier this year at the Venice Film Festival and was awarded the Film Independent Spirit Awards’ ‘Robert Altman Award’, which is bestowed upon one film’s director, ensemble cast, and casting director. Dern was recently honored with the Actress Tribute at the IFP Gotham Awards where the film picked up an additional four awards including Best Feature, Best Actor, Best Screenplay, and the Audience Award. Marriage Story stars Scarlett Johansson and Adam Driver. Laura Dern, Alan Alda and Ray Liotta co-star.
From Sony Pictures, writer-director Greta Gerwig has crafted a Little Women that draws on both the classic novel and the writings of Louisa May Alcott and unfolds as the author’s alter ego, Jo March, reflects back and forth on her fictional life. In Gerwig’s take, the beloved story of the March sisters-four young women each determined to live life on her own terms-is both timeless and timely. Portraying Jo, Meg, Amy, and Beth March, the film stars Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, and Eliza Scanlen, with Timothée Chalamet, Laura Dern, and Meryl Streep. The film makes its way to North American theaters on December 25.
Laura Dern is an actress, producer, and activist, who has received numerous accolades including two Academy Awards nominations for Rambling Rose and Wild, as well as been awarded four Golden Globe awards and an Emmy Award for her work. She was honored as Best Supporting Actress for her work in both Little Women and Marriage Story at the New York Film Critics Circle Awards. Dern began her acting career with stand-out roles in the dramas Foxes,Mask and Smooth Talk. Additional credits include Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart, Inland Empire, Afterburn, Enlightened, Citizen Ruth, A Perfect World, Jurassic Park, October Sky, Dr. T & the Women, I Am Sam, Recount, The Master, The Tale, The Fault in Our Stars, Twin Peaks, Big Little Lies and Star Wars: The Last Jedi. In 2017 she established Jaywalker Pictures, a Los Angeles-based production company founded with partner Jayme Lemons. She also serves on the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences’ Board of Governors.
About The Palm Springs International Film Festival
The Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) is one of the largest film festivals in North America, welcoming 136,000 attendees last year for its lineup of new and celebrated international features and documentaries. The Festival is also known for its annual Film Awards Gala, a glamorous, black-tie event attended by 2,500, presented this year by American Express and sponsored by AT&T and Entertainment Tonight. The Film Awards Gala honors the year’s best achievements in cinema in front of and behind the camera. The celebrated list of talents who have been honored in recent years includes Javier Bardem, Cate Blanchett, Mary J. Blige, Sandra Bullock, Jessica Chastain, George Clooney, Bradley Cooper, Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Clint Eastwood, Gal Gadot, Tom Hanks, Nicole Kidman, Regina King, Rami Malek, Matthew McConaughey, Julianne Moore, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, Eddie Redmayne, Julia Roberts, Saoirse Ronan, Meryl Streep, Charlize Theron and Reese Witherspoon. Call 760-969-7533 for Gala tickets or tables, 760-778-8979 or 800-898-7256 for the Film Festival information or visit http://www.psfilmfest.org.
