Andy Garcia, Regina Hall, Tony Hale and Lisa Ann Walter are among the stars being honored at this year’s San Diego International Film Festival.
In its 21st year, SDIFF will include the return of the Opening Night Film Premiere, the Night of the Stars Tribute and Culinary Cinema. The festival has also announced new additions to this year’s lineup, including the drama “She Said,” with Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan, and “The Inspection,” starring Jeremy Pope, Gabrielle Union and Bokeem Woodbine.
Garcia will receive the Gregory Peck Award, Hall will be presented the Cinema Vanguard Award, Hale with the Fairbanks Award and Walter with the Virtuoso Award. As previously announced, Colson Baker (aka Machine Gun Kelly) will receive the Spotlight Award following the screening of his upcoming drama film “Taurus” on Oct. 23.
At the Night of the Stars event, “Mending the Line,” starring Brian Cox, Sinqua Walls, Perry Mattfeld and Patricia Heaton, will be accepting the Valor Award.
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Dr. Brook Parker-Bello, author and founding CEO of More Too Life, will be presented with this year’s Humanitarian Award for her work against human trafficking.
Similar to previous years, SDIFF will be focusing on several social initiatives, including environmental sustainability, social inequities and LGBTQAI+ rights.
“We have also broadened the scope of our examination of the issue of human trafficking,” Tonya Mantooth, CEO and artistic director of SDIFF, said in September. “We as a festival and community have sought to shine a light on the issue of human trafficking for many years through our curation of films that highlight this heartbreaking topic. This year we continue the conversation with new films that examine stories of human trafficking.”
SDIFF received more than 3,000 film submissions from 82 countries. The lineup consists of 115 films, including 27 Narrative Competition films, 11 Documentary Competition films and 77 shorts.
The San Diego International Film Festival will run from Oct. 19-23.
