Palm Springs, CA (August 16, 2010)—The 2011 Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) has announced its call for entries. Narrative features and documentary features are eligible for submission by October 1, 2010. The Festival will be held from January 6-17, 2011 in Palm Springs, CA. For additional information on entries, visit www.psfilmfest.org.
The Palm Springs International Film Festival is dedicated to showcasing the work of exceptional, new and emerging talents as well as the celebrated work of established directors. Now in its 22nd year, the festival provides an industry-friendly launch pad for new films and filmmakers, combining the best aspects of a casual film marketplace with its well-established reputation as a great audience festival that filmmakers love to attend.
The Festival is set to include over 400 screenings of more than 200 films from approximately 60 countries. The Festival presents a majority of the films submitted for consideration in the Best Foreign Language category for the Academy Awards, as well as a large number of American independent and international features and documentaries marking their world, North American or U.S. debuts. Screenings are held on 15 screens throughout Palm Springs. Awards offered at PSIFF include the John Schlesinger Filmmaker Prize for Outstanding Debut Feature, FIPRESCI Award for Best Foreign Language Film, New Voices New Visions Award for best first-time international director, Bridging the Borders Award presented by Cinema Without Borders to the film that is the most successful in bringing the people of our world closer together and Audience Awards for Best Narrative Feature and Best Documentary. Award winners will be announced at the PSIFF Awards Brunch, closing weekend of the Festival.
Winners of last year’s Festival included: Involuntary (Sweden) receiving the FIPRESCI Award for Best Foreign Language Film of the Year; Tedo Bekhauri in The Other Bank (Georgia/ Kazakhstan) receiving the FIPRESCI Award for Best Actor; and Anne Dorval received the FIPRESCI Award for Best Actress for her performance in I Killed My Mother (Canada). The New Voices New Visions Award for Best New International Director went to Ounie Lecomte, director of A Brand New Life (South Korea/France). Haim Tabakman received the John Schlesinger Award for Outstanding First Feature (Narrative or Documentary) for Eyes Wide Open (Israel). Letters to Father Jacob (Finland), directed by Klaus Härö, received the Bridging the Borders Award presented by Cinema Without Border. Festival attendees chose The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Sweden/Denmark/Germany) directed by Niels Arden Oplev to receive the Mercedes-Benz Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature and The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (USA) directed by Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith as the recipient of the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature.
PSIFF is one of the largest film festivals in North America, welcoming 130,000 attendees each year for its line up of new and celebrated international features and documentaries, along with its annual Black Tie Awards Gala honoring the best achievements of the filmic year by a celebrated list of talents who in recent years have included Clint Eastwood, Kate Winslet, Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Sean Penn, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ron Howard, Anne Hathaway, Jeff Bridges and Danny Elfman.
For additional information, call the festival headquarters at (760) 322-2930 or visit the website at www.psfilmfest.org.