Palm Springs Film Fest
Next year’s lineup is not available yet, but here’s a press release from last year’s Palm Springs Film Festival to give you an idea …
SHIRLEY MACLAINE, CHARLIZE THERON & THOMAS NEWMAN
TO BE HONORED AT 17TH ANNUAL PALM SPRINGS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS GALA
MacLaine, Theron and Newman to be Honored at
Festival’s January 7, 2006 Awards Gala
PALM SPRINGS, CA (December 15, 2005) – The 17th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will honor Academy Award winners Shirley MacLaine with the Lifetime Achievement Award and Charlize Theron with the Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actress and award winning composer Thomas Newman with the Frederick Loewe Award for Film Composing at the Festival’s annual Awards Gala. The Awards Gala will kick-off the 2006 Awards Season on Saturday, January 7, 2006 at the Palm Springs Convention Center, which will also honor David Cronenberg, Jake Gyllenhaal, Terrence Howard and Michael London, and will be hosted by “Entertainment Tonight’s” Mary Hart.
Commenting on the selection, Festival chairman Earl Greenburg said, “We are thrilled to add Shirley MacLaine, Charlize Theron and Thomas Newman to this year’s stellar lineup of honorees. Throughout both of their careers, MacLaine and Theron’s remarkable passion and unforgettable performances have distinguished them in every aspect of their work, including their most recent projects, In Her Shoes and North Country.”
Greenburg added, “From Jarhead to Cinderella Man, Newman’s music elevates each of the films he scores to new artistic heights.”
Currently, MacLaine can be seen in Curtis Hanson’s In Her Shoes, opposite Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette, for Twentieth Century Fox. MacLaine plays the long-lost, no-nonsense grandmother, Ella Hirsch, in this film about two sisters who share nothing in common, other than the same shoe size, but ultimately learn about the value of family and the special bond of sisterhood.
After almost 50 motion pictures, countless television specials and her own mini-series, a literary career that has produced ten best sellers, and stage performances from Broadway to international tours, MacLaine has greatly distinguished herself within the entertainment industry. Among many international awards, she has received ten Golden Globe Awards, four of which were for best actress from The Hollywood Foreign Press Association, two Berlin Film Festival Silver Bear Awards, Berlin’s Golden Bear for Lifetime Achievement, two Venice Film Festival Awards, a British Film Academy Award and Italy’s David Donatello Award. She won five Emmy Awards, among many nominations, for her six musical television specials, and has received six Academy Award nominations, winning best actress for her portrayal in Terms of Endearment.
MacLaine made her motion picture debut in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Trouble With Harry, launching her into an extensive film career. She has subsequently been in such memorable films as Around the World in Eighty Days, The Apartment, Ocean’s 11, The Children’s Hour, Sweet Charity, The Turning Point, Being There, Terms of Endearment, Madame Sousatzka, Steel Magnolias, Postcards from the Edge, Used People, Guarding Tess and The Evening Star. She recently completed filming Rob Reiner’s Rumor Has It…, opposite Kevin Costner and Jennifer Aniston, which will be released in theaters on Christmas Day. Her diverse roles for television include the mini-series “Joan of Arc” and “The Salem Witch Trials,” and television movies “These Old Broads” and “Hell on Heels: The Battle of Mary Kay.”
Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron stars in Warner Bros.’ North Country, a film directed by Niki Caro, the acclaimed director of Whale Rider. Inspired by a true story, North Country follows a woman’s journey on a road that will take her farther than she ever imagined, ultimately inspiring countless others, and leading to the nation’s first-ever sexual harassment class action lawsuit. The film also stars Frances McDormand, Sean Bean, Richard Jenkins, Jeremy Renner, Michelle Monaghan, Woody Harrelson and Sissy Spacek. Currently, Theron can be seen in the action adventure Aeon Flux for director Karyn Kusama, based on the MTV animated series.
In 2003, Theron illuminated the screen in the exciting caper movie The Italian Job, co-starring Mark Wahlberg and Edward Norton and directed by F. Gary Gray. Her next movie Monster, co-starring Christina Ricci and directed by Patty Jenkins, hit theatres that fall to rave reviews and critical acclaim for Theron’s depiction as female serial killer Aileen Wuornos. She went on to win the Independent Spirit Award, the National Broadcast Film Critics Association Award, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, San Francisco Film Critics Circle Award, New York Film Critics Online Award, Southeastern Film Critics Award, the Breakthrough Performance Award from the Nation Board of Review and the Academy Award – all for her emotionally devastating performance in Monster.
Theron’s other films include 2 Days in the Valley, The Devil’s Advocate, That Thing You Do!, Celebrity, Mighty Joe Young, The Cider House Rules, The Astronaut’s Wife, The Legend of Bagger Vance, Reindeer Games, Curse of the Jade Scorpion and HBO’s The Life And Death of Peter Sellers.
Thomas Newman’s most recent projects include the Universal Pictures’ releases Jarhead starring Jake Gyllenhaal and directed by Sam Mendes, and Cinderella Man, starring Russell Crowe and Renée Zellweger and directed by Ron Howard. Newman has been nominated for seven Academy Awards, most recently in 2004 for his work on Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events and the previous year in which he earned a nomination for Finding Nemo. Newman received Academy Award nominations for Best Original Score on two other Sam Mendes films: the Academy Award-winning American Beauty and the critically acclaimed Road to Perdition. His other nominations include Unstrung Heroes in 1996, Little Women and The Shawshank Redemption, both in 1995. Newman received both a BAFTA Award and a Grammy Award for his work on American Beauty, and an Emmy Award and two Grammy Awards for his Main Title Music for the HBO original series “Six Feet Under.” Newman is the recipient of the BMI Richard Kirk Lifetime Achievement Award as well as Composer of the Year from the Hollywood Film Festival in 2004.
Among his recent film credits are White Oleander, The Salton Sea, In the Bedroom, Pay It Forward and Erin Brockovich. His other film scores include The Green Mile, Meet Joe Black, The Horse Whisperer, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Oscar & Lucinda, Mad City, American Buffalo, Phenomemon, Red Corner, Up Close and Personal, Scent of a Woman, The Player, Fried Green Tomatoes, The Lost Boys, and Desperately Seeking Susan. Newman also composed the score for director Mike Nichols’ highly acclaimed HBO miniseries Angels In America.
This year’s honorees include David Cronenberg with the Visionary Award, Jake Gyllenhaal with the Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor, Terrence Howard with the Rising Star Award, Michael London with the Producer of the Year Award, Shirley MacLaine with the Lifetime Achievement Award, Thomas Newman with the Frederick Loewe Award for Film Composing, and Charlize Theron with the Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actress.
The Festival, scheduled from January 5-16, 2006, will include more than 200 films from approximately 60 countries. The Festival also presents a majority of the films submitted for consideration in the Best Foreign Language category for the Academy Awards, as well as a large number of American independent and international features and documentaries.
Founded in 1990 by then Mayor Sonny Bono, the PSIFF is one of the largest film festivals in North America. The Festival has an attractive film sales and distribution record and is seen by American distributors as one of the best Academy Award campaign marketing tools. The Festival also features cultural events, filmmaker tributes, industry seminars and an annual black-tie gala award presentation.
The 2006 Palm Springs International Film Festival sponsors include title sponsor, the City of Palm Springs, joined with ample support from the City of Indian Wells, the City of Palm Desert, the Aqua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, including the Agua Caliente Casino and the Spa Resort Casino, The Desert Sun, Harper’s Bazaar, Spencer’s at the Mountain, Entertainment Tonight, Ciroc Vodka, Tanqueray #10 and Talisker Scotch, all brands of Diageo Spirits, Wessman Development, Regal Entertainment Group, Integrated Wealth Management, and Mercedes-Benz, the official car of the Festival.
For additional information, call the Festival headquarters at (760) 322-2930 or visit the website at www.psfilmfest.org.