Jessica Chastain to receive Chairman’s Award at Palm Springs Film Festival
The 29th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival will present Jessica Chastain with the Chairman’s Award for her new film “Molly’s Game” at its annual Film Awards Gala. She will join previously announced 2018 honorees Timothée Chalamet, Gal Gadot, Holly Hunter, Allison Janney, Gary Oldman, Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan and “The Shape of Water” cast. The Film Awards Gala, hosted by Mary Hart, will be held Tuesday, January 2 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The Festival runs January 2-15, 2018.
“Jessica Chastain is an incredible actress who has continuously challenged herself with complex roles throughout her career,” said Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “In her latest film, Molly’s Game, Chastain brings to life Molly Bloom’s story of a determined woman who goes from being an Olympic skier to making millions running an exclusive high-stakes poker game. It is our honor to present the Chairman’s Award to Jessica Chastain.”
Chastain received the PSIFF Spotlight Award in 2012, going on to receive an Academy Award nomination for “The Help.” Past recipients of the Chairman’s Award include Amy Adams, Ben Affleck, George Clooney, Richard Gere, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon.
Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, “Molly’s Game,” is based on the true story of Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain), an Olympic-class skier who ran one of the world's most exclusive high-stakes poker game for a decade before being arrested in the middle of the night by 17 FBI agents wielding automatic weapons. Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business titans, and finally, unbeknownst to her, the Russian mob. Her only ally was her criminal defense lawyer Charlie Jaffey (Idris Elba), who learned that there was much more to Molly than the tabloids led us to believe. The film also stars Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Jeremy Strong, Bill Camp, Chris O’Dowd and Brian d’Arcy James. “Molly’s Game,” will open in select theaters nationwide December 25, 2017, and everywhere January 5, 2018.
Two-time Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain has received numerous nominations and accolades for her work from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, LA Film Critics, British Academy of Film and TV, Broadcast Film Critics, HFPA, National Board of Review, Screen Actors Guild and Film Independent, to name a few. Her film credits include "The Arrival," “Crimson’s Peak,” “The Debt,” “The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby,” “The Huntsman: Winter’s War,” “Interstellar,” Mama,” “The Martian,” “Miss Julie,” “Miss Sloane,” “A Most Violent Year,” "Nocturnal Animals," “Tree of Life,” “Zero Dark 30” and “The Zookeeper’s Wife.” She recently finished production for Susanna White’s period drama “Woman Walks Ahead,” opposite Sam Rockwell and Xavier Dolan’s “The Death and Life of John F. Donovan,” with Natalie Portman, Kit Harington and Nicholas Hoult.