Saoirse Ronan to be honored at PSIFF
The 29th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival announced Monday it will present actress Saoirse Ronan with the Desert Palm Achievement Award, for her performance in Lady Bird.
Ronan will receive the award at the annual Film Festival Awards Gala.
Ronan joins previously announced 2018 honorees Timothee Chalamet, Gal Gadot, Holly Hunter, Allison Janney, Gary Oldman, Sam Rockwell and The Shape of Water.
Festival Chairman Harold Matzner said, “Ronan delivers one of the most outstanding performances of this year as an outspoken high school student growing up in Sacramento in the critically acclaimed film Lady Bird.” Matzner added, “Ronan is sure to receive her third Academy Award nomination.”
Ronan was honored by the PSIFF taking its International Star Award in 2016 for her performance in Brooklyn. She eventually received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for the same role.
Additional past recipients of the Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actress include Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett, Julianne Moore, Sandra Bullock, Halle Berry, Marion Cotillard, Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron, and Naomi Watts.
Lady Bird explores the humor and pathos in the turbulent bond between a mother and her teenage daughter. Christine “Lady Bird” McPherson (Saoirse Ronan) fights against but is exactly like her wildly loving, deeply opinionated, strong-willed mom (Laurie Metcalf), a nurse working to keep her family afloat after Lady Bird’s father (Tracy Letts) loses his job. Set in Sacramento, California in 2002, amid a rapidly shifting American economic landscape, Lady Bird is an affecting look at the relationships that shape us, the beliefs that define us, and the unmatched beauty of a place called home.
For her role in the film, Ronan has already received Best Actress from the Gotham Independent Film Awards and is nominated for Best Female Lead from the Film Independent Spirit Awards.
The Film Awards Gala, hosted by Mary Hart, will be held Tuesday, January 2nd at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The Festival runs January 2-15, 2018.
