Kathleen Kennedy will receive a prestigious producing award at this year’s Austin Film Festival.
The Lucasfilm president is set to receive the Polly Platt Award for producing during the festival in October. She will speak about her career during AFF’s Writers Conference.
Established in 2019, the award “is given annually to producers with a keen sense of story, who have a history of fostering new talent.”
“I am deeply honored to receive the Austin Film Festival’s Polly Platt Award for Producing,” Kennedy said in a statement. “Polly was not only an incredible producer and mentor to so many, with an impact and voice still felt to this day, but also a staunch supporter of the Austin Film Festival and a dear personal friend. Polly attended every year, right up until her passing, and I look forward to celebrating her legacy in October.”
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Past recipients include Lauren Shuler Donner (2023), Dede Gardner (2022), Stephanie Allain (2021), and Sarah Green (2019).
Among her many films, Kennedy produced 2015’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which remains the highest-grossing movie of all time in terms of domestic box office. She’s an eight-time Oscar nominee who has been a producer on more than 70 films which have collectively garnered 120 Oscar nominations — including several Star Wars movie and TV titles, the Back to the Future trilogy, Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park and many others.
Kennedy also headed The Kennedy/Marshall Company, which she founded in 1992 with director-producer Frank Marshall, and in 1981 co-founded Amblin Entertainment. She’s also one of the founding Council Members of the Hollywood Commission to Eliminate Sexual Harassment and Advance Equality.
This year’s Austin Film Festival’s Writers Conference is Oct. 24 – 27 and presents over 150 panels “on the art, craft, and business of storytelling, featuring a slate of prominent industry professionals working in film, television, and new media.”
