Sonny Bono Visionary Award will go to Richard Linklater

Two-time Academy Award® nominated filmmaker Richard Linklater will be presented with the Sonny Bono Visionary Award at the 26th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala.

Linklater’s recent film ‘Boyhood’ earned him this year’s honor.

“Richard Linklater’s latest feature film is the critically acclaimed Boyhood, a one-of-a-kind epic undertaking shot over the course of 12 years with the same cast,” said Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “For his creative innovations in filmmaking, The Palm Springs International Film Festival is proud to present Richard Linklater with the Sonny Bono Visionary Award.”

According to a film festival release, Linklater wrote, produced and directed Boyhood, a film about growing up as seen through the eyes of a boy named Mason (in a breakthrough performance by Ellar Coltrane), who literally grows up on screen before our eyes. Starring Ethan Hawke and Patricia Arquette as Mason’s parents, and Lorelei Linklater as his sister Samantha, Boyhood charts the rocky terrain of childhood, parenting and growing up. Snapshots of adolescence from road trips and family dinners, to birthdays and graduations, and all the moments in between are set to a soundtrack spanning the years with music from Coldplay, Paul McCartney and Arcade Fire.

The film, which was produced by Linklater, Cathleen Sutherland, Jonathan Sehring and John Sloss, was released by IFC Films.

Linklater’s list of film credits include Slacker, Dazed and Confused, Before Sunrise, Waking Life, Tape, School of Rock, Before Sunset (which earned him an Academy Award® nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay), A Scanner Darkly, Bernie, and Before Midnight (which earned him a second Academy Award® nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay). Linklater also serves as the Artistic Director for the Austin Film Society, which he founded in 1985.

Previously announced honorees at this year’s Awards Gala include Eddie Redmayne, Julianne Moore, J.K, Simmons and Rosamund Pike.

Past recipients of the Sonny Bono Visionary Award include Academy Award® winning filmmakers Tom Hooper, Danny Boyle, Quentin Tarantino, and Michel Hazanavicius, according to film festival organizers.

Presented by Cartier, and hosted by Mary Hart, the Awards Gala will be held Saturday, January 3 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The Festival runs January 2-12.