Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice Award winner Sam Rockwell will be honored with the 2018 American Riviera Award at the 33rd Santa Barbara International Film Festival, which runs from January 31 to February 10, 2018. Rockwell will be fêted with a Tribute celebrating his remarkable performance in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. The film opened in November of 2017 to critical acclaim. The Tribute will take place Wednesday, February 7, 2018 at the historic Arlington Theatre.
“In Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, audiences are treated to the kind of mesmerizing and extraordinary performance we have come to expect from Sam Rockwell,” stated Roger Durling, Executive Director of SBIFF. “We are long overdue to celebrate this tremendous talent who has lit up the screen for decades.”
Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, follows a mother who, when the police in her town fail to find a suspect in her daughter’s murder, purchases three billboards to call public attention to the unsolved crime. When the town’s revered chief of police and his second-in-command get involved, the battle between the mother and Ebbing’s law enforcement becomes exacerbated.
The American Riviera Award was established to recognize actors who have made a significant contribution to American Cinema. Rockwell will join a prestigious group of past recipients, including last year’s honoree Jeff Bridges (2017), Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, and Mark Ruffalo (2016), Patricia Arquette and Ethan Hawke (2015), Robert Redford (2014), Quentin Tarantino (2013), Martin Scorsese (2012), Annette Bening (2011), Sandra Bullock (2010), Mickey Rourke (2009), Tommy Lee Jones (2008), Forrest Whitaker (2007), Philip Seymour Hoffman (2006), Kevin Bacon (2005) and Diane Lane (2004).
The 33rd annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival will take place from Wednesday, January 31st through Saturday, February 10th. The festival previously honored Judi Dench with its Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film. The festival has also announced that it will honor Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird) with its Santa Barbara Award, Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour) with its Maltin Modern Master Award, Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project) with its Cinema Vanguard Award, and Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman), Hong Chau (Downsizing), John Boyega (Detroit), Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick), Mary J. Blige (Mudbound), and Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name) with the Virtuosos Award.