The Palm Springs International Film Festival’s Film Awards Gala has long been a staple of the first week of the new year. The gathering always lures many of Hollywood’s biggest names — who happen to be in the running for an Oscar nomination — some three hours from L.A. out into the desert to present and/or accept a pre-determined honor in a convention center ballroom packed to the gills with a lot of randos and a chunk of Academy members, just days before Oscar nomination voting begins.
But the 36th edition of the event, which took place on Friday night, was even starrier than usual, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence.
Sure, the honorees were booked around six to eight weeks ago, and the presenters only a bit more recently than that. But a feeling has existed since the fall film festivals, and continues to be palpable, that the major Oscar categories are still very much up for grabs, and that any little thing could sway the race.
So, with the Golden Globe Awards set for Sunday night, final voting for the Critics Choice Awards and nominations voting for the BAFTA Awards currently underway, and Oscar nominations voting set to commence on Wednesday, it makes sense that this year’s PSIFF gala attracted the attendance of virtually all of this season’s top-tier contenders (who arrived in tow with elaborate career-encompassing montages and emotional acceptance speeches).
From the best actor race, there was Ralph Fiennes from Focus’s Conclave, who hadn’t been able to participate in most of the awards season up to this point, accepting the Ensemble Prize on behalf of himself and his costars (including John Lithgow, Stanley Tucci and Isabella Rossellini); Adrien Brody from A24’s The Brutalist collecting the Desert Palm Achievement Award (Actor) from Andrew Garfield, who said he regarded Brody as a “mentor”; Timothée Chalamet from Searchlight’s A Complete Unknown, arguably the last true movie star that Hollywood has produced (see the blockbuster debut of his Bob Dylan film), co-presenting the Visionary Award to his Dune: Part Two director Denis Villeneuve and then receiving the Chairman’s Award from Gary Oldman; and Colman Domingo from A24’s Sing Sing audibly wowing the room with an off-the-cuff speech about life and art that made me want to vote for him for political office, to say nothing of acting awards.
Best actress contenders were at least as well-represented, with Angelina Jolie from Netflix’s Maria being handed the Desert Palm Achievement Award (Actress) by her godmother, actress Jacqueline Bissett (who knew?!); Mikey Madison from Neon’s Anora accepting the Breakthrough Performance Award (Actress) from one of her acting heroes, Rossellini; International Star Award recipient Nicole Kidman from A24’s Babygirl tearing up over the recent death of her mother, who she regretted not being able to thank when she was awarded the Venice Film Festival’s best actress prize, as presenter Jamie Lee Curtis held her hand; Demi Moore from Mubi’s The Substance presenting to her new-ish friend Domingo; Amy Adams of Searchlight’s Nightbitch co-presenting to her Arrival director Villeneuve; and Karla Sofía Gascón from Netflix’s Emilia Pérez — at whose fun table I was fortunate enough to be seated — leading off her team’s acceptance of the Vanguard Award (followed by Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña, Edgar Ramirez and Jacques Audiard).
Lest one think only the lead acting contenders were on hand, numerous frontrunners for both supporting acting awards were also present. In addition to Saldaña, Rossellini, Lithgow and Tucci, there was Kieran Culkin of Searchlight’s A Real Pain and Ariana Grande of Universal’s Wicked claiming the Breakthrough Performance Award (Actor) and Rising Star Award — from Culkin’s one-time on-screen mother Sharon Stone and the hilarious-as-always Grande admirer Jennifer Coolidge, respectively — and joking about the fact that they were receiving honors with those sorts of titles literally decades into their careers!
But the truth is, the names of the specific PSIFF awards mattered little to the people giving or receiving them — it was the fact that they were being given and received at a time when any sort of attention might make a difference in the various contests for the award that people most care about, the Oscar.