by Marla Lewin The 21st Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will present Academy Award winners Marion Cotillard with the Desert Palm Achievement Actress Award and Quentin Tarantino with the Sonny Bono Visionary Award, named after the Festival’s founder. The Awards Gala will kick off the 2010 awards season on Tuesday, January 5 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. Hosted by “Entertainment Tonight’s” Mary Hart, the Awards Gala will also honor Jeff Bridges...

Sometimes Hollywood lives up to its legend. Years ago, I was producing 2 entertainment weekly shows in L.A, and multi-talented French icon Thierry Lhermitte, was promoting "An Indian in the City" -- which went through an "extreme (re)make-over" by Disney later on... As we asked him if he pictured himself pursuing a career in Hollywood, he replied "No way, it's like the Cannes Film Festival 365 days a year!".However, recently, the recession hit, and what reached an a...

 Friday, February 22--------European films and talents are poised for Oscar wins, when the golden statuettes are handed out at the Kodak Theater this coming Sunday in Los Angeles. For the past three months, there has been a lingering cloud of doubt about whether the ceremony was going to happen at all. A strike by the Writers Guild of America, that effectively shut down film and television production and forced the cancellation of the Golden Globe Awards, was only recently settled, in part beca...

In past years, the SBIFF has shown a midweek movie, with varying degrees of success. In 2007, it was Amazing Grace, with director Michael Apted in the audience (and also serving a role as a special curator/director). The film went on to garner critical acclaim. In 2006, Dave Barry’s Guide to Guys featured the stars and John Cleese in attendance.   This year, the fest has gone the route of adding yet another award ceremony, complete with a red carpet, star wattage and on-stage interviews and v...