Palm Springs International Film Festival (sometimes stylized shortly as PSIFF) is a film festival held in Palm Springs, California, considered the largest film festival for world cinema in the United States. Originally promoted by Mayor Sonny Bono and then sponsored by Nortel, (here for Table of Contents) it started in 1989 and is held annually in January. It is run by the Palm Springs International Film Society, which also runs the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films (ShortFest), a festival of short films and film market in June.
Though the festival does feature American independent films, the focus from its inception was to shine a spotlight on international cinema.Susan King (January 2, 2013), Palm Springs film fest lineup includes black and white silent films Los Angeles Times.
The festival was cancelled in both 2021 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in California. It was held from January 6 to January 16 in 2023. The 34th edition screened 134 films from 64 countries including 27 premieres. Film Awards ceremony on January 5 at the Palm Springs Convention Center started the celebrations.
Details Michael Barker, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics, described the festival as a good place to show foreign-language movies and heralded this festival's ability to spread good word-of-mouth for movies. The event is noted for screening most foreign Oscar nominees. In 2013, the festival screened 42 of the 71 movies that were submitted by countries around the world to the Oscars for that year's foreign language film prize.
In the days before the festival's opening, several of the foreign filmmakers convene at Sunnylands, the Annenberg estate in Rancho Mirage, to trade strategies on funding, producing and promoting their movies.Rebecca Keegan (January 6, 2011), Palm Springs International Film Fest mixes glamour, grit Los Angeles Times.
The festival regularly attracts around 135,000 people, with some 70% coming from outside of the Coachella Valley, including Canada and Europe. It is noted for its Award Ceremonies where such actors as Christian Bale, Brad Pitt, Clint Eastwood, Sean Penn, Dustin Hoffman, Anne Hathaway, Allison Janney, Brie Larson and Leonardo DiCaprio have appeared. In January 2011, the festival's honorees included Ben Affleck and Danny Boyle. The current artistic director of the festival is Liliana Rodriguez.
In 2021 the main festival was not held, but the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films on June 22–28 did go ahead. As of April 8, 2021, the next PSIFF was scheduled for January 6−17, 2022. However, due to rising cases of COVID-19, the 2022 festival was canceled.
In 2025, Kering was named a multiyear partner and new presenting sponsor of the Palm Springs International Film Awards.Julia Teti (10 July 2025), Kering Named Multiyear Presenting Sponsor of the Palm Springs International Film Awards Women's Wear Daily.
Awards Film Gala Awards The Gala awards are as follows: Sonny Bono Visionary Award Career Achievement Award Desert Palm Achievement Award Director of the Year Award, Frederick Loewe Award for Film Composing, Icon Award Chairman's Award, Ensemble Performance Award Spotlight Award
In 2014 the Desert Palm Achievement Award was given to Matthew McConaughey for his role in Dallas Buyers Club and Sandra Bullock for her role in Gravity, while Johnny Depp and Cate Blanchett received the Desert Palm Achievement Award in 2016 for Black Mass and Carol, respectively. Casey Affleck received the Desert Palm Achievement Award in 2017 for Manchester by the Sea. Gary Oldman and Saoirse Ronan received the Desert Palm Achievement Award in 2018 for their films Darkest Hour and Lady Bird.
Festival awards The following awards were presented at the Palm Springs International Film Festival:
FIPRESCI Prize for Best Foreign Language Film FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actor in a Foreign Language Film FIPRESCI Prize for Best Actress in a Foreign Language Film New Voices New Visions Award John Schlesinger Award CV Cine Award Ricky Jay Magic of Cinema Award GoE Bridging the Borders Award Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature
Desert Palm Achievement Award
Desert Palm Achievement, Actor 2005 – Liam Neeson for Kinsey 2006 – Jake Gyllenhaal for Brokeback Mountain 2008 – Daniel Day-Lewis for There Will Be Blood 2009 – Sean Penn for Milk 2010 – Jeff Bridges for Crazy Heart 2011 – Colin Firth for The King's Speech 2012 – Brad Pitt for Moneyball, The Tree of Life 2013 – Bradley Cooper for Silver Linings Playbook 2014 – Matthew McConaughey for Dallas Buyers Club 2015 – Eddie Redmayne for The Theory of Everything 2016 – Johnny Depp for Black Mass 2017 – Casey Affleck for Manchester by the Sea 2018 – Gary Oldman for Darkest Hour 2020 – Adam Driver for Marriage Story 2021 – Riz Ahmed for Sound of Metal 2022 – Andrew Garfield for Tick, Tick... Boom! 2023 – Colin Farrell for The Banshees of Inisherin 2024 – Cillian Murphy for Oppenheimer 2025 – Adrien Brody for The Brutalist 2026 – Leonardo DiCaprio for One Battle After Another
Desert Palm Achievement, Actress
2004 – Naomi Watts for 21 Grams 2005 – Laura Linney for Kinsey 2006 – Charlize Theron for North Country 2007 – Kate Winslet for Little Children 2008 – Halle Berry for Things We Lost in the Fire 2009 – Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married 2010 – Marion Cotillard for Nine 2011 – Natalie Portman for Black Swan 2012 – Michelle Williams for My Week with Marilyn 2013 – Naomi Watts for The Impossible 2014 – Sandra Bullock for Gravity 2015 – Julianne Moore for Still Alice 2016 – Cate Blanchett for Carol, Truth 2017 – Natalie Portman for Jackie 2018 – Saoirse Ronan for Lady Bird 2019 – Olivia Colman for The Favourite 2020 – Renée Zellweger for Judy 2021 – Viola Davis for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom 2022 – Jessica Chastain for The Eyes of Tammy Faye 2023 – Cate Blanchett for Tár 2024 – Emma Stone for Poor Things 2025 – Angelina Jolie for Maria 2026 – Amanda Seyfried for The Testament of Ann Lee
Sonny Bono Visionary Award The following celebrities were honored with the award since 2004:
2004 – Sidney Sheldon 2005 – Kevin Spacey for Acting, Producing and Directing 2006 – David Cronenberg for A History of Violence 2007 – Todd Field for Little Children 2008 – Joe Wright for Atonement 2009 – Gus Van Sant for Milk 2010 – Quentin Tarantino for Inglourious Basterds 2011 – Danny Boyle for 127 Hours 2012 – Michel Hazanavicius for The Artist 2013 – Tom Hooper for Les Misérables 2014 – U2 for "Ordinary Love (U2 song)" in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom 2015 – Richard Linklater for Boyhood 2016 – Tom McCarthy for Spotlight 2019 – Alfonso Cuarón for Roma 2020 – Martin Scorsese for The Irishman
Visionary Award 2025 – Denis Villeneuve for Dune: Part Two 2026 – Guillermo del Toro and cast (Oscar Isaac, Jacob Elordi and Mia Goth) for Frankenstein
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