SFFilm to honor Winslet, Bigelow with top prizes
Kate Winslet has won an Oscar, three Golden Globes, three BAFTAs, three European Film Awards and three Screen Actors Guild Awards. But until now, one award has eluded her ... the Peter J. Owens Award for acting.
Likewise, Kathryn Bigelow has won an Oscar, a Directors Guild Award, two New York Film Critics Circle prizes and four awards at the Venice Film Festival. Yet for all that seeming acclaim, the Irving M. Levin Award for film direction has remained outside her grasp. But no more. Like Winslet, her ship has finally come in.
On Dec. 5, SFFilm will be honoring these two cinematic powerhouses with its highest prizes. They will be in attendance at the ceremony, which will take place at the Palace of Fine Arts Exhibition Center. The festivities will begin with a cocktail reception at 5:30 p.m., followed by a 7 p.m. dinner and awards ceremony. Though the evening’s presenters have not been announced, it’s expected that there will be some famous names among them.
The event, which has been pushed back to a more prominent position in the fall awards season, is a benefit for SFFilm’s education and artistic development programs. These programs are substantial and constitute a major part of SFFilm’s mission. They’re good causes, and by allowing themselves to be honored, Winslet and Bigelow are making a contribution to the cinematic literacy and vitality of this region. And what happens in this region often has an impact throughout the country. In addition to those headliners, Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani will be present to receive the Kanbar Award for storytelling. “The Big Sick,” which they co-wrote, was a critical favorite earlier this year. The story of a Muslim man (Nanjiani), who falls in love with a woman who becomes ill and slips into a coma, was based on Nanjiani and Gordon’s courtship. They married in 2007.
As the event draws closer, more awards and presenters are expected to be announced.