The Santa Barbara International Film Festival will honor actor, screenwriter and producer Emma Thompson, Oprah Winfrey, Academy Award winning actress Cate Blanchett, and Academy Award-winning actor Forest Whitaker, at the 29th edition of the Fest, which runs January 30 thru February 9, 2014.
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival will honor actor, screenwriter and producer Emma Thompson with the Modern Master Award. The Modern Master Award is the highest honor presented by SBIFF. Emma Thompson will be honored for her ‘illustrious versatile career, which includes her captivating portrayal of P.L. Travers, author of the universally beloved Mary Poppins novels, in the upcoming Saving Mr. Banks, directed by John Lee Hancock.’
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival will honor Oprah Winfrey with the prestigious Montecito Award. The Montecito Award was created in recognition of a performer who has given a series of classic and standout performances throughout his/her career and whose style has been a contribution to film. Oprah Winfrey’s most recent work includes her moving portrayal of supportive wife Gloria Gaines in Lee Daniels’ The Butler. This historical drama stars Forest Whitaker as an African American butler working at the White House through multiple administrations, set against the arc of the civil rights movement.
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival will present the 2014 Outstanding Performer of the Year Award to Academy Award winning actress Cate Blanchett. Blanchett will be honored for what the festival describes as her stellar performance in this year’s Blue Jasmine, in which she portrays Jasmine French, a deeply conflicted and complex woman in the throes of her world unraveling. The imploding of her life has far-reaching effects on those around her, leaving the audience to wonder if everyone can heal and move forward. Jasmine is tragically flawed and with Blanchett at the helm, we feel Jasmine’s pain and experience her journey.
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s eighth annual Kirk Douglas Award For Excellence In Film will be presented to Academy Award-winning actor Forest Whitaker. According to the festival, Whitaker brings an authentic realism to each of his performances. Often referred to as a ‘gentle giant,’ Whitaker has the ability to get under our skin, guiding the audience through every character he embodies, making him one of the most versatile performers of all time. This promises to be an exciting year for Whitaker. He most recently portrayed Cecil Gaines, a butler at the White House serving eight presidents during his tenure in Lee Daniels’ The Butler, opposite Oprah Winfrey; he will grace the screen in Out of the Furnace, opposite Christian Bale; and he will also be seen in his first musical, Black Nativity, opposite Jennifer Hudson and Angela Bassett. In addition, Forest is the founder of LA-based Significant Productions, where he served as a producer on Fruitvale Station, which won the 2013 Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.