PSIFF will present Rooney Mara with Spolight Award
Actress Rooney Mara will be honored at the 27th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival. Organizers announced Friday morning that Mara will be presented with the Spotlight Award for her performance in the film ‘Carol’.
“Rooney Mara’s nuanced portrayal of Manhattan shopgirl Therese Belivet opposite Cate Blanchett’s Carol Aird, brings integrity and depth to this story of forbidden love set against the sexual mores of the early 1950s,” said Film Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “For this brilliant performance, which adds yet another laurel to her diverse career, it is an honor to present Rooney Mara with the 2016 Spotlight Award.”
Past recipients of the Spotlight Award include J.K. Simmons, Julia Roberts, Jessica Chastain, Amy Adams and Helen Hunt. All recipients received Academy Award® nominations in the year they were honored, with Simmons receiving the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
According to the festival’s release, Carol, an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Price of Salt, follows two women from very different backgrounds – unhappily married Carol (Cate Blanchett) and department store clerk Therese (Rooney Mara), who find themselves in an unexpected love affair in 1950s New York. As conventional norms challenge their undeniable attraction, an honest story emerges to reveal the resilience of the heart in the face of change. Directed by Todd Haynes from a script by Phyllis Nagy, Carol stars Cate Blanchett, Rooney Mara, Sarah Paulson, Kyle Chandler, Jake Lacy and Cory Michael Smith. The film is distributed by the Weinstein Company.
Mara’s film credits include The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, Side Effects, Her, Pan, Tanner Hall, The Social Network, Trash, Youth in Revolt and The Winning Season. She will next be seen in the Untitled Terrence Malick film, Jim Sheridan’s The Secret Scripture along with Vanessa Redgrave and Jeremy Irons, and A House in the Sky.
The Gala will also present awards to previously announced honorees Cate Blanchett, Johnny Depp, Michael Fassbender, Brie Larson, Tom McCarthy, Saoirse Ronan and Alicia Vikander.
The Festival runs January 1-11.
