36th Palm Springs International Film Festival

The 36th Palm Springs International Film Festival took place from January 2 to 13, 2025, in Palm Springs, California, United States. The festival opened with Michael Gracey's biographic drama film Better Man and closed with Peter Cattaneo's comedy drama film The Penguin Lessons.

The full lineup was revealed on November 26, 2024. Among the sections, a Spanish Focus section took place, dedicated to highlight Spanish cinema, while Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar received a spotlight section screening some films from his filmography.

As usual, throughout late 2024, several special awards were announced, which were presented during the Opening Gala on January 3, 2024, at the Palm Springs Convention Center. Jacques Audiard's musical crime comedy Emilia Pérez received the Vanguard Award. The Desert Palm Achievement for Best Actor and Best Actress went to Adrien Brody and Angelina Jolie for their performances in The Brutalist and Maria, respectively. Mikey Madison and Kieran Culkin both won the Breakthrough Performance Award, for Anora and A Real Pain respectively. Australian actress Nicole Kidman won the International Star Award for Babygirl. The Spotlight Award went to Colman Domingo for Sing Sing. Mystery thriller Conclave received the Ensemble Performance Award. Its cast includes Ralph Fiennes, Isabella Rossellini, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Lucian Msamati. American actor Timothée Chalamet received the Chairman's Award for A Complete Unknown while American singer and actress Ariana Grande was honored with the Rising Star Award for her performance in Wicked. Finally, the Visionary Award was presented to Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve for Dune: Part Two.

The following day, on January 4, the *Variety'*s 10 Directors to Watch & Creative Impact Awards brunch took place at the Parker Palm Springs. The recipients for the Creative Impact awards are Cynthia Erivo, who received the Acting Award, and Jacques Audiard, who was honored with the Directing Award. Additionally, American singer and actress Jennifer López was presented with the Legend & Groundbreaker Award.

The films selected for each section are as follows:

The following section consists of submissions for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards:

Highlighted title indicates the section winner.

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the True Stories section:

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Modern Masters section, consisting of new films by well-established directors:

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the New Voices New Visions competition:

Highlighted title indicates the section winner.

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the American Indies section:

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Talking Pictures section, each with discussion panels with their directors, writers and actors:

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Spanish Focus section, dedicated to celebrate Spanish cinema:

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Queer Cinema Today section and The Gayla:

The following films were selected to be screened as part of a section destined to highlight Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar's filmography:

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Family Day section:

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the World Cinema Now section:

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Talking Pictures: Book to Screen:

The following awards were presented at the 36th Edition:

• Best International Feature Film: I'm Still Here by Walter Salles

• Best Actor in an International Feature Film: Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap, and DJ Provái for Kneecap

• Best Actress in an International Feature Film: Zoe Saldaña for Emilia Pérez

• Best International Screenplay: Maura Delpero for Vermiglio

• Ibero-American Award: Sujo by Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez

• Ibero-American Special Mention: Manas by Marianna Brennand

• Best Documentary: No Other Land by Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Rachel Szor

• Special Mention: Blue Road – The Edna O'Brien Story by Sinéad O'Shea

• New Voices New Visions Award: The New Year That Never Came by Bogdan Mureșanu

• New Voices New Visions Special Mention: Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight by Embeth Davidtz

• Desert Views Award: Checkpoint Zoo by Joshua Zeman

  • Desert Views Special Mention: Desert Angel by Vincent DeLuca

• Young Cineastes Award: Tatami by Guy Nattiv and Zar Amir Ebrahimi

  • Young Cineastes Special Mention: Superboys of Malegaon by Reema Kagti

• Bridging the Borders Award: Souleymane's Story by Boris Lojkine

  • Bridging the Borders Special Mention: Happy Holidays by Scandar Copti

The following awards were presented during the opening gala:

• Vanguard Award: Emilia Pérez (Jacques Audiard, Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gómez, Edgar Ramírez)
• Desert Palm Achievement for Best Actor: Adrien Brody for The Brutalist
• Desert Palm Achievement for Best Actress: Angelina Jolie for Maria
• Spotlight Award: Colman Domingo for Sing Sing
• Breakthrough Performance Award: Mikey Madison for Anora
• Breakthrough Performance Award: Kieran Culkin for A Real Pain
• International Star Award: Nicole Kidman for Babygirl
• Ensemble Performance Award: Conclave (Ralph Fiennes, Isabella Rossellini, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Lucian Msamati)
• Chairman's Award: Timothée Chalamet for A Complete Unknown
• Rising Star Award: Ariana Grande for Wicked
• Visionary Award: Denis Villeneuve for Dune: Part Two

The following creative impact awards were presented:

• Creative Impact in Acting Award to Cynthia Erivo
• Creative Impact in Directing Award to Jacques Audiard
• Legend & Groundbreaker Award for Jennifer López

The list consisted of the following directors:

• Durga Chew-Bose for Bonjour Tristesse

• Coralie Fargeat for The Substance

• David Fortune for Color Book

• Drew Hancock for Companion

• Zoe Kravitz for Blink Twice

• Tom Nesher for Come Closer

• Halina Reijn for Babygirl

• James Sweeney for Twinless

• Magnus von Horn for The Girl with the Needle

• Malcolm Washington for The Piano Lesson

• Official website