The Palm Springs Film Festival said today that Colman Domingo will receive its Spotlight Award, Actor, for his “incredibly raw and captivating performance” in Sing Sing. It’s the second year in a row he will be feted by the fest, which also celebrated his work in 2023’s Rustin with the Spotlight Award.
“In Sing Sing, Colman Domingo delivers another outstanding performance based on the true story of the wrongfully convicted Divine G, who finds purpose in prison through stage acting,” festival Chairman Nachhattar Singh Chandi said.
The festival runs January 2-13 in the desert city east of Los Angeles, and its film awards will be handed out January 3 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The fest also will honor Netflix’s Emilia Pérez with its Vanguard Award.
The Palm Springs Film Festival kicked off its giving season Wednesday, revealing that Netflix’s audacious musical crime thriller Emilia Pérez has be bestowed the fest’s Vanguard Award. The honor will be presented January 3 during the festival’s Film Awards gala, an event that has become a must-stop for awards-season hopefuls.
The Vanguard Award, a group honor distinguishing a film’s cast and director in recognition of their work, will be presented to writer-director Jacques Audiard and actors Karla Sofia Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Edgar Ramírez, who are expected to attend the ceremony at the Palm Springs Convention Center.
The film, which world premiered at Cannes, where Gascón, Saldaña and Gomez were awarded the Best Actress prize, has since been selected as France’s submission for the Oscar International Feature race. It centers on fearsome cartel leader Emilia (Gascón), who enlists Rita (Saldaña), an unappreciated lawyer stuck in a dead-end job, to help fake her death so that Emilia can finally live authentically as her true self.
It debuts on Netflix on November 13.
“Emilia Pérez is one of the greatest achievements in cinema this year,” said PSIFF chairman Nachhattar Singh Chandi. ‘This powerful film from visionary director Jacques Audiard, is led by outstanding performances from Karla Sofia Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz and Edgar Ramírez. The film started its awards run at the Cannes film festival, where it won the Jury Prize and its main actresses shared the Best Actress prize. It’s our honor to celebrate the director and cast of Emilia Perez with the Vanguard Award for this achievement in filmmaking.”
