Female director wins award at Palm Springs film festival

by Jian Ping

PALM SPRINGS, the United States, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Patty Jenkins received Variety's annual Creative Impact in Directing Award at the 29th Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) Wednesday. She is the first female director ever bestowed such an honor by the festival.

Jenkins' latest film "Wonder Woman" is "one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful films of the year," said Claudia Eller, co-editor in chief of U.S. entertainment weekly Variety.

Gal Gadot, the film's star who received the Rising Star Award at the PSIFF Film Awards Gala the night before, presented the award to her.

Gadot praised Jenkins for using film "to impart a positive message to the world."

Jenkins said that when making the film, she was not considering gender roles or thinking of herself as a woman director. Her focus was to "aspire to reach as high as possible" in making her best film.

In Jenkins' words, she was startled that the film sparked conversations on gender issues, and is honored to carry the conversation forward.

Previous recipients of this award include Jeff Nichols, Charlie Kaufman, David O. Russell, and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

At the Variety Creative Impact Awards event, Daniel Kaluuya received the Creative Impact in Acting Award, and Aaron Sorkin received the Creative Impact in Screenwriting Award.

The event also honored "10 Directors to Watch," who are Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah who directed "Gangsta", Augustine Frizzell who directed "Never Goin' Back", Greta Gerwig who directed "Lady Bird", Joseph Kahn who directed "Bodied", and Chloe Zhao who directed "The Rider", among others.

Peter Debruge, chief film critic at Variety, introduced each of the directors.

When it came to Zhao, a China-born director educated in the United States, Debruge praised Zhao for being "so connected with the people she features."

Zhao's first feature film "Songs My Brothers Taught Me" gained international recognition and awards, and her second film "The Rider" premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival and received the Art Cinema Award.

"It takes a Chinese woman to tell an American story," said Debruge.

The PSIFF is one of the largest film events in North America, with attendance exceeding 130,000 each year, said Harold Matzner, chairman of the festival.

The festival this year features 180 films from 77 countries, including "Youth" directed by Feng Xiaogang from China.

"'Youth' is an incredible film," Michael Lerman, artistic director of the festival, told Xinhua. "It reminds me of 'Gone with the Wind.' It is a melodrama in its best sense."

The film festival will run through Jan. 15. Enditem