Emilia Pérez director Jacques Audiard will be honored with Variety’s Creative Impact in Directing Award at the 2025 Palm Springs International Film Festival as part of Variety’s annual 10 Directors to Watch and Creative Impact Awards brunch.
The accolade honors Audiard’s body of work including “Emilia Pérez,” “Rust and Bone,” “Dheepan,” and “A Prophet.” Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Edgar Ramírez will present the award to Audiard.
Emilia Pérez world premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival where it won the Jury Prize and the Best Actress Prize, which was awarded to the four women of the ensemble for the first time in the festival’s history. Jacques was awarded the Silver Medallion at Telluride Film Festival, a tribute given to three film luminaries each year, the Douglas Sirk award at Filmfest Hamburg, and the Rare Pearl award at the Denver Film Festival, among others.
For his previous work, Audiard has won both the César Award for Best Film and the BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language twice: in 2005 for “The Beat My Heart Skipped” and in 2010 for “A Prophet,” which also won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival that same year. His film “Rust and Bone” competed for the Palme d’Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language, a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, and won the BFI London Film Festival Award for Best Film. He won the Palme d’Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival for “Dheepan” and the Silver Lion for Best Direction at the Venice Film Festival for “The Sisters Brothers”.
“From his Cesar Award-winning debut film, “See How They Fall,” 30 years ago, writer-director Jacques Audiard has been at the forefront of international cinema. With ‘Emilia Pérez’,” Audiard is now at the center of the 2024 awards season, again exhibiting his trademark qualities of bravado filmmaking, powerful performances and riveting, provocative themes.” Steven Gaydos, Senior VP of Global Content, Variety.
Previous Creative Impact in Directing honorees include Yorgos Lanthimos, Baz Luhrmann, Ryan Coogler, Charlie Kaufman, and Patty Jenkins.
Variety will announce its 10 Directors to Watch on January 2.
The Palm Springs International Film Festival runs January 2 to 13, 2025.