Variety will present director David O. Russell with the Indie Impact Award, presented by Mercedes Benz,which celebrates the filmmaker for his outstanding contributions to the art and business of cinema. The event will take place on Sunday, January 6 during the Palm Springs International Film Festival on the Palm Court at the Parker Palm Springs.
“Since he emerged as a wildly funny and extremely independent voice in American film nearly 20 years ago, writer-director David O. Russell has continued to delight and surprise fans of his unique cinematic vision,” said Steve Gaydos, Executive Editor at Variety. “Along the way his comic touch has been reaffirmed in films like Flirting With Disaster and his current Oscar-contender, ‘Silver Linings Playbook,’ but as is clear in ‘Playbook,’ there is always a deep truth beneath the laughs in a David O. Russell film. And hit films like ‘Three Kings’ and ‘The Fighter’ have also demonstrated this gifted filmmaker’s tremendous and powerful social conscience that is never far from the center of action in his films.”
Previous recipients of the Indie Impact Award include Philip Seymour Hoffman, Charlize Theron and Mark Wahlberg.
“Silver Linings Playbook” will also be honored the evening before at the Palm Springs International Film Festival’s Awards Gala where Bradley Cooper will be presented with the Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor.
“10 Directors to Watch”
“10 Directors to Watch” debuted in 1996 and the annual event moved to the Palm Springs International Film Festival in January 2011. “10 Directors to Watch” was the first of Variety’s “10 to Watch” series spotlighting the most exciting new talents in the fields of directing, writing, producing, acting, cinematography and comedy. This year’s “10 Directors to Watch” include: Haifaa Al-Mansour (“Wadjda”); Wayne Blair (‘The Sapphires”); John Krokidas (“Kill Your Darlings”); Tobias Lindholm (“A Hijacking”); David Lowery (“Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”); Jon Lucas & Scott Moore (“21 and Over”); Andres Muscietti (“Mama”); David Ondricek (“In the Shadow”); Joachim Rønning & Espen Sandberg (“Kon-Tiki”); and Rebecca Thomas (“Electrick Children”). Five of the films including “Electrick Children,” “A Hijacking,” “In the Shadow,” “Kon-Tiki” and “The Sapphires” will be shown at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
Past “10 Directors to Watch” honorees have included Ben Affleck (“Gone Baby Gone”), Wes Anderson (“Bottle Rocket”), Scott Cooper (“Crazy Heart”), Marc Webb (“500 Days of Summer”), Catherine Hardwicke (“Thirteen”), Christopher Nolan (“Memento”) and Benh Zeitlin (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”), among others.
“What better way to start the new year of cinema than by celebrating 10 dynamic new filmmaking voices at the prestigious Palm Springs International Film Festival,” Gaydos noted. “It’s an exciting meeting place for international and independent filmmakers and the Festival provides a brilliant showcase for Variety to alert the world to these future maestros.”
Palm Springs International Film Festival Director Darryl Macdonald stated, “Ten striking new talents with exceptional storytelling gifts, and one supremely innovative, established filmmaker who seems to reinvent every genre he chooses to work in. This is a heady combination, and one that I hope reflects the mix of emerging directors and masters of the craft that the Palm Springs Festival lineup itself has come to represent. We’re delighted to be hosting Variety’s ‘10 Directors to Watch’ event at the Festival, and congratulate all of the winners on being selected for these prestigious honors.”
“Variety’s ‘Ten Directors to Watch’ and Indie Impact Awards Brunch has become the hot ticket on the opening weekend,” said Festival Artistic Director Helen du Toit. “We are doubly delighted as it syncs so beautifully with our own ongoing commitment to showcase the best of new international talent.”
The event will be presented by Mercedes-Benz with premier sponsor Indian Country Today Media Network and venue partner the Parker Palm Springs – For more information, call 760-322-2930 or 800-898-7256 or visit www.psfilmfest.org.