2023 Palm Springs International Film Awards brings the stars out to the desert
The 34th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF), held its Film Awards Gala at the Palm Springs Convention Center on Thursday, January 5, 2023, co-hosted by Entertainment Tonight’s Kevin Frazier and Nischelle Turner. Honorees were presented with either the John Kennedy “The Entertainer” statue or a Chihuly Glass Sculpture. The event was presented by American Express and sponsored by Entertainment Tonight and IHG Hotels & Resorts.
The following awards were presented to and by plus previous recent honorees:
| Honoree | Award | Presenter | Past Honorees |
| Danielle Deadwyler Till | Breakthrough Performance Award, Actress | Brian Tyree Henry | Andra Day, Cynthia Erivo, Brie Larson, Jennifer Hudson, Lupita Nyong’o, Marion Cotillard, Mary J. Blige, Rosamund Pike |
| Brendan Fraser The Whale | Spotlight Award, Actor | Hong Chau | Bryan Cranston and Andrew Garfield |
| Sarah Polley Women Talking | Director of the Year | Eric Idle | Jane Campion, Chloé Zhao, Quentin Tarantino, Bradley Cooper, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Steve McQueen, Jason Reitman, David O. Russell, Robert Zemeckis |
| Austin Butler Elvis | Breakthrough Performance Award, Actor | Baz Luhrmann | Rami Malek, Jeremy Renner, Mahershala Ali |
| Michelle Yeoh Everything Everywhere All at Once | International Star Award, Actress | Stephanie Hsu | Penélope Cruz, Carey Mulligan, Charlize Theron, Javier Bardem, Nicole Kidman, Helen Mirren, Gary Oldman, Saoirse Ronan. |
| Colin Farrell The Banshees of Inisherin | Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor | Sam Rockwell | Andrew Garfield, Riz Ahmed, Adam Driver, Jeff Bridges, Bradley Cooper, Daniel Day-Lewis, Colin Firth, Matthew McConaughey, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, Eddie Redmayne. |
| Cate Blanchett Tár | Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actress | Jamie Lee Curtis | Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Renée Zellweger, Olivia Colman, Cate Blanchett, Charlize Theron, Halle Berry, Julianne Moore, Sandra Bullock, Natalie Portman, Saoirse Ronan |
| Bill Nighy Living | International Star Award, Actor | Kazuo Ishiguro | Daniel Kaluuya, Antonio Banderas, Javier Bardem, Nicole Kidman, Helen Mirren, Gary Oldman. Saoirse Ronan |
| Viola Davis The Woman King | Chairman’s Award (for acting and producing) | Cate Blanchett | Jennifer Hudson, Gary Oldman, Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Nicole Kidman, Regina King, Reese Witherspoon, Tom Hanks |
| Gabriel LaBelle, Keeley Karsten, Judd Hirsch, Julia Butters, Kristie Macosko Krieger, Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Sam Rechner, Seth Rogen, Steven Spielberg The Fabelmans | Vanguard Award | Sally Field | Belfast, Green Book, La La Land, Little Miss Sunshine, Shape of Water, The Trial of the Chicago 7, Young Adult |
Other guests included festival representative Lili Rodriguez (Artistic Director); Phillip Keene, Udo Kier, Thuso Mbedu (The Woman King), Gina Prince-Bythewood (The Woman King), Julius Tennon (The Woman King), Todd Field (TÁR) and Nina Hoss (TÁR).
Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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