Now entering its 28th year, the Palm Springs International Film Festival is regarded as one of the largest and most well-respected film festivals in North America.
This year’s opening night screening will be the world premiere of Ritesh Batra’s The Sense of an Ending on January 5. The festival’s closing night film is Taylor Hackford’s The Comedian, starring Robert De Niro, Leslie Mann, Danny DeVito, Harvey Keitel, Patti LuPone and Edie Falco.
“I couldn’t be more proud of this year’s lineup. The programming team has managed to pull together a plethora of different viewpoints in storytelling from around the world in hopes of generating great discussion sorely needed in these divisive times,” said the festival’s new artistic director, Michael Lerman.
The festival will present modern day musical La La Land with the Vanguard Award. The award is presented to the film’s cast and director recognizing its outstanding creative ensemble.
“Director and writer Damien Chazelle delivers a resonant cinematic masterpiece with La La Land,” said festival chairman Harold Matzner. “This visually stunning film pays tribute to classic Hollywood musicals with a contemporary love story driven by pitch-perfect performances by Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. It is our honor to present the Vanguard Award to La La Land.”
Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone and La La Land’s director and writer Damien Chazelle are expected to attend the annual awards gala on January 2 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. Other awards recipients slated to attend include Amy Adams, Casey Affleck, Mahershala Ali, Annette Bening, Tom Hanks, Nicole Kidman, Ruth Negga, Natalie Portman, the cast of Hidden Figures including Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst and Jim Parsons.
- Story by Ariel Katz