The 20th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) Awards Gala, presented by Cartier, was Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at the Palm Springs Convention Center hosted by “Entertainment Tonight’s” Mary Hart. Honorees Amy Adams and Gus Van Sant were presented with an original Chihuly Glass Sculpture designed by Dale Chihuly while the other honorees received the John Kennedy “The Entertainer” statue. Guests enjoyed “The Cîroc Desert Palm” created especially for the Festival by Diageo.
The Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala honors individuals in the entertainment industry with several prestigious awards for acting, director, achievement in film scoring and life achievement. Celebrating this year’s honorees, Cartier Pages wearing their signature Cartier red jackets and bell caps greeted guests upon their arrival and presented awards to the honorees. In addition, Cartier presented special gifts of a classic Cartier Tank Solo watch to each honoree at Awards Gala.
The following awards were presented at this year’s Awards Gala:
• Amy Adams with the Spotlight Award presented by the Doubt writer and director John Patrick Shanley
• The Curious Case of Benjamin Button composer Alexandre Desplat with the Frederick Loewe Award for Film Composing presented by Taraji P. Henson 
• Clint Eastwood with the Career Achievement Award presented by Donald Sutherland
• Dakota Fanning with the Rising Star Award presented by Paul Bettany
• Anne Hathaway with the Desert Palm Achievement Award (Actress) presented by Rosemarie Dewitt
• Dustin Hoffman with the Chairman’s Award presented by Ben Stiller
• Ron Howard with the Director’s Lifetime Achievement Award presented by Frank Langella
• Sean Penn with the Desert Palm Achievement Award (Actor) presented by activist Cleve Jones
• Freida Pinto with Breakthrough Award presented by James Cromwell
• Revolutionary Road (Leonardo DiCaprio, Kathy Bates, Michael Shannon, Kathryn Hahn, David Harbour and Zoe Kazan) with the Ensemble Performance Award presented by Monica Yates, daughter of author Richard Yates
• Gus Van Sant with the Sonny Bono Visionary Award presented by Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack and Josh Brolin
Other stars who walked the red carpet with films screening in the Festival include: Abby Brammell (Dandelions in the Dust), William Devane (The Least Among You), Sachi Parker (The Witch of the West is Dead), Mira Sorvino (Dandelions in the Dust) and many others including Robert Loggia, Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood), Dustin Lance Black, Frédéric de Narp (President and CEO of Cartier North America) and Festival director Darryl Macdonald.