Awards Roundup: Peter Morgan Set for BFI Fellowship, Richard Curtis Picked for WGA Humanitarian Award and More
Keep up with the glitzy awards world with our weekly Awards Roundup column.
Awards
– The Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television has announced that director Johnny Ma has won the Academy’s Best First Feature award, sponsored by Telefilm Canada, for his feature film, “Old Stone.” This award celebrates the outstanding debut of a first-time filmmaker. The film had its North American premiere at TIFF in the Discovery Programme and was awarded the City of Toronto Award for Best Canadian First Feature Film. The film can be pre-ordered on iTunes for viewing after April 7, 2017.
The Canadian Screen Awards will be broadcast live on CBC from Toronto’s Sony Centre for the Performing Arts on Sunday, March 12.
– Acclaimed screenwriter-director Richard Curtis has been named the recipient of the Writers Guild of America, West’s 2017 Valentine Davies Award in recognition of his humanitarian efforts, charitable initiatives and world service, which have achieved a positive impact on the global level. Curtis will be honored at the WGAW’s 2017 Writers Guild Awards ceremony on Sunday, February 19.
Curtis is Co-Founder and Vice-Chair of Comic Relief, which he launched in 1985 after visiting Ethiopia during the 1980s famine. Curtis was a founding member of Make Poverty History – a trans-national coalition focusing on issues related to aid, trade, and justice. Working on this global initiative, he partnered with Bob Geldof to organize 2005’s landmark “Live 8” benefit concerts, held two decades after 1985’s historic Live Aid rock concerts to aid Africa. In 2014, he founded Project Everyone. Working alongside the United Nations, Project Everyone helped to launch and promote The Global Goals for Sustainable Development, a set of 17 ambitious targets to end extreme poverty, fight inequality and injustice and combat climate change by 2030.
The WGAW’s Valentine Davies Award honors Guild members whose humanitarian efforts and service have brought dignity and honor to writers everywhere. Past Valentine Davies recipients include Norman Lear, Neal Baer, Larry Gelbart, Tom Schulman, Carl Reiner, Susannah Grant, Phil Rosenthal, Sam Simon, Ben Affleck, and John August.
– Two–time Oscar-winning filmmaker, director, producer, animator and writer Brad Bird will receive the Cinematic Imagery Award from the Art Directors Guild (ADG) at its 21st Annual Art Directors Guild’s Excellence in Production Design Awards, announced today by ADG Council Chair Marcia Hinds and Awards Producers Thomas Wilkins and Thomas Walsh.
The ADG’s Cinematic Imagery Award is given to those whose body of work in the film industry has richly enhanced the visual aspects of the movie-going experience. Previous recipients have been David O. Russell, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese, the Production Designers behind the James Bond franchise, the principal team behind the Harry Potter films, Bill Taylor, Syd Dutton, Warren Beatty, Allen Daviau, Clint Eastwood, Blake Edwards, Terry Gilliam, Ray Harryhausen, Norman Jewison, John Lasseter, George Lucas, Frank Oz, Steven Spielberg, Robert S. Wise and Zhang Yimou.
Honors
– The British Film Institute will award its highest honor, the BFI Fellowship, to screenwriter Peter Morgan, an Oscar nominee for “The Queen” and “Frost/Nixon.” Morgan will receive his award at the annual BFI chairman’s dinner, hosted by BFI chair Josh Berger, on February 21.
Other BFI Fellows include Tim Burton, Clint Eastwood, Judi Dench, Martin Scorsese, Stephen Frears, Steve McQueen, Cate Blanchett, Maggie Smith and Hugh Grant.
– The Austin Film Society (AFS) has made its final announcement of the full line-up of honorees for the 2017 Texas Film Hall of Fame, scheduled for March 9 at Austin Studios.
Legendary American actress Shirley MacLaine, whose work spans some of the most beloved masterpieces of American film, will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Texas Film Hall of Fame. She will also accept the Star of Texas Award for the Texas classic “Terms of Endearment,” for which she won an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1983.
Academy Award-nominated producer Sarah Green, whose celebrated Texas-made films include Terrence Malick’s “Song to Song” and “The Tree of Life,” will be inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame.
MacLaine and Green will join the previously announced 2017 honorees, including directors Jeff Nichols and Hector Galán, and Rising Star honoree Tye Sheridan. Announcements about award presenters, and other special guests to appear at the event, are forthcoming.
– BET Networks and The American Black Film Festival (ABFF) will present actor and director Denzel Washington with the “Hollywood Legacy Award,” while writer, producer and actress Issa Rae will receive the “Rising Star Award,” and film director and producer F. Gary Gray will be honored with “Excellence in the Arts Award” during this year’s “BET Presents The American Black Film Festival Honors.”
The awards gala held, February 17 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, CA will air on BET and Centric, Wednesday, February 22. ABFF Honors’ mission is to celebrate Black culture by honoring individuals, movies and television shows that have had a significant impact on American entertainment, as well as the people who are proponents of championing diversity and inclusion in Hollywood. The annual event will be hosted by actress Regina Hall.
Event Announcements
– Patton Oswalt will host the 21st Annual Art Directors Guild’s Excellence in Production Design Awards (IATSE Local 800). The Awards, celebrating “Return to Hollywood,” will be held Saturday, February 11 at the Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood and Highland.
Nominees in 11 categories of Production Design for theatrical motion pictures, television, commercials and music videos were announced on January 5. For the full list of nominees, check out their official announcement. Final online balloting will end on February 9, and winners will be announced at the dinner ceremony on Saturday, February 11.
– DGA President Paris Barclay has announced the presenters for the 69th Annual DGA Awards. The ceremony will take place on Saturday, February 4 at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills.
Presenters include: Amy Adams, Michael Apted, Casey Affleck, Paris Barclay, Martha Coolidge, Laverne Cox, Billy Crudup, Michael Fassbender, America Ferrera, Cuba Gooding Jr., Ryan Gosling, Taylor Hackford, Tony Hale, Alex R. Hibbert, Gale Anne Hurd, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicole Kidman, Christine Lahti, Helen Mirren, Mandy Moore, Kevin Nealon, Christopher Nolan, Sarah Paulson, Gene Reynolds, Trevante Rhodes, Ashton Sanders, John Singleton, Emma Stone, Milo Ventimiglia and Kerry Washington.
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