Palm Springs

The Palm Springs International Film Awards has announced that Carey Mulligan is the recipient of the International Star Award for her performance in Promising Young Woman. As previously announced, the Festival and Film Awards Gala will not take place as an in-person event this year, but honoree selections will be announced to recognize this year’s great performances.

“In Promising Young Woman, Carey Mulligan boldly portrays Cassandra Thomas, a young woman, who risks her life to avenge the death of her best friend. This is a thrilling black comedy that tells an entertaining story of female power,” said Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “For this daring and outstanding performance, it is our honor to present the International Star Award to Carey Mulligan.”

Mulligan was previously honored at the festival with the Breakthrough Performance Award in 2011. Past recipients of the International Star Award include Javier Bardem, Nicole Kidman, Helen Mirren, Gary Oldman and Saoirse Ronan. Last year’s recipient Charlize Theron went on to receive an Academy Award Best Actress nomination.

From groundbreaking director Emerald Fennell comes a delicious new take on revenge. Everyone said Cassie (Carey Mulligan) was a promising young woman ... until a mysterious event abruptly derailed her future. But nothing in Cassie’s life is what it appears to be: she’s wickedly smart, tantalizingly cunning, and she’s living a secret double life by night. Now, an unexpected encounter is about to give Cassie a chance to right the wrongs of the past in this thrilling and wildly entertaining story. The Focus Features film is written and directed by Emerald Fennell. Mulligan has received several Best Actress critic awards including from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.

Carey Mulligan is an Academy Award®-nominated actress who first broke out in a starring role in the critically acclaimed film An Education. The role garnered her the BAFTA Award for Best Actress and nominations for an Academy Award®, Golden Globe Award and SAG Award. Mulligan will next star opposite Bradley Cooper in the Netflix feature Maestro. Written and directed by Cooper, Maestro will tell the complex love story of Leonard Bernstein (Cooper) and his wife Felicia Montealegre (Mulligan). This year, Mulligan appears in The Dig opposite Ralph Fiennes for Netflix. Her film credits include Wildlife, Mudbound, Suffragette, Far from the Madding Crowd, Inside Llweyn Davis, The Great Gatsby, Shame, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Never Let Me Go, Brothers, Public Enemies, The Greatest, And When Did You Last See Your Father? and Pride & Prejudice. Mulligan’s stage credits include The Seagull, Skylight, Girls and Boys, Through a Glass Darkly and Hypochondriac.

About The Palm Springs International Film Festival

The Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) is one of the largest film festivals in North America, welcoming 136,000 attendees last year for its lineup of new and celebrated international features and documentaries. The Festival is also known for its annual Film Awards Gala, a glamorous, black-tie event attended by 2,500, which is presented by American Express and sponsored by AT&T and Entertainment Tonight. The Film Awards Gala honors the year’s best achievements in cinema in front of and behind the camera. The celebrated list of talents who have been honored in recent years includes Cate Blanchett, Mary J. Blige, Sandra Bullock, Mariah Carey, George Clooney, Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Clint Eastwood, Cynthia Erivo, Jamie Foxx, Gal Gadot, Tom Hanks, Samuel L. Jackson, Nicole Kidman, Regina King, Jennifer Lawrence, Rami Malek, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Charlize Theron, Reese Witherspoon and more. Both events are produced by the Palm Springs International Film Society, whose mission is to nurture and encourage new filmmaking talent, honoring the great masters of world cinema, and expanding audience horizons.

The Palm Springs International Film Festival and Film Awards Gala will return in 2022. Palm Springs ShortFest is still scheduled for June 22-28, 2021. The Film Society has continued to host year-round member screenings and events virtually until theatres are able to open. For additional information visit www.psfilmfest.org or call 760-778-8979 or 800-898-7256.