Actor Jonah Hill and Director John Lee Hancock were honored for their outstanding contribution to the arts along with “10 Directors to Watch” by Variety magazine at a brunch hosted by Mercedes-Benz at the Parker Palm Springs Hotel during the 2014 Palm Springs International Film Festival.
Writer John Lee Hancock and Actors Jonah Hill and Marisa Tomei
Colin Farrell was in attendance at the brunch in Palm Springs Parker to present the Variety Creative impact in Directing Award to John Lee Hancock (Saving Mr. Banks) and Marisa Tomei presented the Variety Creative Impact in Acting Award to Jonah Hill (Wolf of Wall street).
(L-R) President of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production Sean Bailey, writer John Lee Hancock and actor Colin Farrell
The honorees were joined by some of the “10 Directors to Watch” which included Amma Asante (“Belle”); Anthony Chen (“Iloy Ilo”); Paul Duane (“Very Extremely Dangerous”); Ben Falcone(“Tammy”); Maya Forbes (“Infinitely Polar Bear”); Aron Gaudet & Gita Pullapilly (“Beneath the Harvest Sky”); Dome Karukoski (“Heart of a Lion”); Justin Simien (“Dear White People”); and Gren Wells (“The Road Within”).
Director Dome Karukoski getting his award.
Variety also honored ten directors to be watched in the future which included three film which were shown at the Film Festival this year, Belle, Ilo Ilo and Heart of a Lion. Other guests in attendance at the event included Melissa McCarthy, Michelle Sobrino (Variety) Claudia Eller (Variety), Steve Gaydos (Variety), Tim Gray (Variety), Darryl Macdonald (Festival Director), Helen du Toit (Artistic Director) amongst others at the event.
Full list of the “10 Directors to Watch”
· Amma Asante (“Belle”)
· Clio Barnard (“The Selfish Giant”)
· Anthony Chen (“Ilo Ilo”)
· Paul Duane (“Very Extremely Dangerous”)
· Ben Falcone (“Tammy”)
· Maya Forbes (“Infinitely Polar Bear”)
· Aron Gaudet & Gita Pullapilly (“Beneath the Harvest Sky”)
· Dome Karukoski (“Heart of a Lion”)
· Justin Simien (“Dear White People”)
· Gren Wells (“The Road Within”).
(Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images for Variety)
Photo Credit – Getty Images for Variety
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