The 25th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will honor Julia Roberts, Sandra Bullock, Bruce Dern, Matthew McConaughey and Steve McQueen at its annual Awards Gala to be held Saturday, January 4, 2014, at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The Festival runs January 3 to 13, 2014.
Academy Award winning actress Julia Roberts will be presented with the Spotlight Award for AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY. The Weinstein Company presents August: Osage County which tells the dark, hilarious and deeply touching story of the strong-willed women of the Weston family, whose lives have diverged until a family crisis brings them back to the Midwest house they grew up in, and to the dysfunctional woman who raised them. Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name made its Broadway debut in December 2007 after premiering at Chicago’s legendary Steppenwolf Theatre. It continued with a successful international run and won five 2008 Tony Awards including Best Play. August: Osage County is directed by John Wells and features an all-star cast including Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Abigail Breslin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Dermot Mulroney, Julianne Nicholson, Sam Shepard and Misty Upham.
Steve McQueen with receive the Director of the Year Award for 12 YEARS A SLAVE. 12 Years a Slave is based on an incredible true story of one man’s fight for survival and freedom. In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty (personified by a malevolent slave owner, portrayed by Michael Fassbender) as well as unexpected kindnesses, Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon’s chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist (Brad Pitt) forever alters his life. The Fox Searchlight Pictures film is directed and produced by Steve McQueen and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Garret Dillahunt, Paul Giamatti, Scoot McNairy, Lupita Nyong’o, Adepero Oduye, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, Michael Kenneth Williams, Alfre Woodard, Chris Chalk, Taran Killam and Bill Camp.
Bruce Dern currently seen in NEBRASKA, will be presented with the Career Achievement Award. Paramount Vantage presents Nebraska, directed by Alexander Payne and starring Bruce Dern (who won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year), Will Forte, June Squibb, Stacy Keach and Bob Odenkirk. In the film, a father and son steer the American road comedy into a vanishing Midwest on the trail of a dubious fortune – and in search of an understanding of each other that once seemed impossible. After receiving a sweepstakes letter in the mail, a cantankerous father (Dern) thinks he’s struck it rich, and wrangles his son (Forte) into taking a road trip to claim the fortune. Shot in black and white across four states, Nebraska tells the stories of family life in the heartland of America. Dern won Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for his role.
Academy Award®-winning actress Sandra Bullock now starring in GRAVITY, in theaters, will be presented with the Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actress. Gravity stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney in a Warner Bros. Pictures film directed by Alfonso Cuarón. Dr. Ryan Stone (Bullock) is a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (Clooney) in command. But on a seemingly routine mission, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed by space debris, leaving Stone and Kowalski completely alone—tethered to nothing but each other and spiraling out into the blackness. The deafening silence tells them they have lost any link to Earth…and any chance for rescue. As fear turns to panic, every gulp of air eats away at what little oxygen is left. The only way home may be to go further out into the terrifying expanse of space.
Palm Springs International Film Festival will present Matthew McConaughey now seen in the new movie DALLAS BUYERS CLUB, with the Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor. Inspired by true events, Dallas Buyers Club is directed by Jean-Marc Vallée from an original screenplay by Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack, and also stars Jennifer Garner and Jared Leto.