Emmy-winning and Oscar and Golden Globe-nominated actor, director and producer Rob Reiner will receive the prestigious “Lifetime Achievement Award” at the Sedona International Film Festival for his work in front of and behind the camera and his commitment to the art of independent filmmaking. Reiner, who rose to fame as Mike “Meathead” Stivic on All in the Family, has been at the helm of award-winners including When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men, Stand By Me, The Princess Bride and LBJ.
The Festival will open on Saturday, February 22 with a Tribute to Leslie Uggams as part of the Festival’s celebration of Black History Month. The event will include clips from the iconic TV series Roots, in which Uggams appeared as Kizzy and earned both Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominations for her performance. Uggams won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the Broadway musical Hallelujah, Baby!. Recently, she appeared alongside Ryan Reynolds in Deadpool and in a recurring role on Empire.
Among special guests expected at the event is Kim Fields, who also appeared in Roots before a nine-year run as “Tootie” Ramsey on the NBC sit-com Facts of Life.
Also on opening day, actress and singer Lainie Kazan will return to the Sedona International Film Festival to introduce the 2019 film Shepherd: The Story of a Jewish Dog, written and directed by Lynn Roth. Shepherd is based on the award-winning and bestselling Israeli novel, “The Jewish Dog,” by Asher Kravitz. Kaleb, a beloved German Shepherd, is separated from his Jewish family when the Nuremberg Laws are enacted in WWII Berlin.
Headlining the week of workshops and roundtables will be Bryan Cogman, a writer on the multi-award winning series Game of Thrones. He also is known for his work on The Sword in the Stone and Magic: The Gathering.
A full schedule of more than 160 films will highlight the 26th annual Festival which takes place from February 22 through March 1, 2020. Among films selected for screening this year are three documentaries nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature: For Sama, The Cave and Honeyland, along with the Oscar-shortlisted Best International Film contenders Those Who Remained and Portrait of a Lady on Fire.