Demi Moore, Denis Villeneuve, Malcolm Washington and Jason Reitman were announced as this year’s honorees of the SFFILM Awards Night.
The awards night, which “honors exemplary achievement in film craft and is a fundraiser with proceeds from the event supporting the organization’s mission to discover, nurture and showcase the next generation of film artists,” according to the organization, will take place Dec. 9 at San Francisco’s Gateway Pavilion at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture.
“We are so proud to honor this group of individuals as we close out 2024,” says SFFILM Director of Programming Jessie Fairbanks. “Their crafts and artistry elevates the cinematic experience and reminds us why we collectively love the power of film. Denis, Demi, Malcolm and Jason are all intrepid, tenacious and imaginative creatives. We look forward to honoring their work at SFFILM’s annual fundraiser.”
Villeneuve (director of Dune: Part Two) will receive the Irving M. Levin Award for Film Direction, which is presented “each year to one of the masters of world cinema and is given in memory of the founder of the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1957.” Previous recipients include Greta Gerwig, Ryan Coogler, Jane Campion, Chloe Zhao, Steve McQueen, Guillermo del Toro, Richard Linklater, Kenneth Branagh, Spike Lee and Werner Herzog, among others.
Moore, who stars in The Substance this year, will receive the Maria Manetti Shrem Award for Acting, which has been awarded since 1996 and honors a “performer whose work in film exemplifies brilliance, independence and integrity.” Nicolas Cage, Margot Robbie, Oscar Isaac, Amy Adams, Kate Winslet, Richard Gere, Harrison Ford and Robin Williams are just a few actors who have received the award previously.
Washington, who made his directorial debut this year with The Piano Lesson, is set to be honored with the George Gund III Award, which is presented each year to “one of the world cinema’s outstanding visionaries, regardless of their craft.” Past honorees have included Stephanie Hsu and Cord Jefferson.
Finally, Reitman, who this year directed and co-wrote Saturday Night, will receive the Nion McEvoy & Leslie Berriman Award for Storytelling, which “acknowledges the critical importance that storytellings plays in the creations of outstanding films.” Roger Ross Williams, Sarah Polley, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Aaron Sorkin, Lulu Wang and Eric Roth are some previous honorees.
