Jane Campion Honored with Director of the Year at Palm Springs Film Festival
Jane Campion will be honored with the director of the year award for her work on “The Power of the Dog” at the Palm Springs International Film Awards, taking place Jan. 6-17.
Based on Thomas Savage’s 1967 novel of the same name, “The Power of the Dog” stars Benedict Cumberbatch as a masochistic cattle rancher named Phil Burbank, whose bullying demeanor is drawn from a frontier-worn masculinity and deeply closeted sexuality. After his cow herder brother (Jesse Plemons) covertly weds a young widow (Kirsten Dunst) with a son, Peter (Kodi Smit-McPhee), Burbank begins to wage a war against his sister-in-law and Peter, a draining act that summons memories of the mentorship, affection and intimacy of a former cowboy.
“The Power of the Dog” is Campion’s return to feature film directing after a 12-year hiatus. Her debut feature, “The Piano,” led her to become the first female director to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes and one of only seven women to be nominated for the best director Oscar.
“Jane Campion has once again created a cinematic masterpiece with her latest film ‘The Power of the Dog’” said festival chairman Harold Matzner. “This physiological drama set against a Western backdrop, brings to life Thomas Savage’s novel with stellar work from an ensemble cast.”
Past recipients of the director of the year award include Alejandro González Iñárritu, Steve McQueen, Alexander Payne, Jason Reitman, Quentin Tarantino and Chloé Zhao.
The festival will take place at the Palm Springs Convention Center and will be presented by American Express.
Tony Hale to Star in Animated Film ‘Poupelle of Chimney Town
“Being the Ricardo’s” actor Tony Hale is set to star in “Poupelle of Chimney Town,” a feature-length animated film coming to theaters on Dec. 30.
The film, based on the bestselling picture book and screenplay by Japanese comedian and illustrator Akihiro Nishino, follows the story of a young Lubicchi living among the thick smoke from the chimneys of his isolated down, yearning to see the stars — and to know the truth — his father always told him about.
Antonio Raul Corbo, Stephen Root, Misty Lee and Hassan Minhaj also star.
“Poupelle of Chimney Town” is directed by Yasuke Hirota and created at Studio4°C. The film is distributed by Eleven Arts.
