Sarah Polley is the recipient of the Palm Springs International Film Awards’ Director of the Year Award, for Women Talking. The Film Awards will take place in-person on January 5, 2023, with the festival running through January 16, 2023.

Based on the best-selling novel by Miriam Toews, Women Talking follows a group of women in an isolated religious colony as they struggle to reconcile their faith with a series of sexual assaults committed by the colony’s men. The film stars Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey, Sheila McCarthy, Michelle McLeod, Kate Hallett, Liv McNeil, August Winter with Ben Whishaw and Frances McDormand. The film is written and directed by Sarah Polley.

“Sarah Polley continues her outstanding work as a writer and director in her latest film Women Talking. She brings together a stellar cast in her adaptation of the Miriam Toews book, taking us on a cinematic journey filled with raw emotions and performances,” said Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “It is our honor to present Sarah Polley with the Director of the Year Award.”

Past recipients of the Director of the Year Award include Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog), Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Babel, Birdman), Steve Mc Queen (12 Years a Slave), Alexander Payne (Sideways), Jason Reitman (Up in the Air), David O. Russell (The Fighter), Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and Chloé Zhao (Nomadland) who all went on to receive Best Director Academy Award nominations. Campion, Iñárritu and Zhao received a Best Director Academy Award for their films. Polley joins this year’s previously announced honoree Colin Farrell (Desert Palm Achievement, Actor).