Zoe Saldaña will be honoured with the Derek Malcolm Award for Innovation at the 45th London Critics’ Circle Film Awards on Sunday, 2nd February 2025. The Emilia Pérez actress will become the second recipient of the annual award, named in memory of the legendary critic Derek Malcolm, who died at 91 in August 2023. Cinematic trailblazer Actor and filmmaker Colman Domingo was the inaugural recipient earlier this year.

“I’m honoured and thrilled to receive the Derek Malcolm Award for Innovation from the London Film Critics’ Circle, a group I greatly admire and respect,” says Saldaña. “This has been a wonderful year for film with so many striking and indelible roles for women. To have had the opportunity to work in this industry for 25 years has been a privilege and to perform the role of Rita in Emilia Pérez has been the opportunity of a lifetime.”

Saldaña, a prolific and impactful actor and producer, is also nominated for Supporting Actress of the Year for her dynamic work in Jacques Audiard’s musical drama Emilia Pérez. Throughout her broad-ranging career, Saldaña has starred in four of the highest-grossing films of all time, including Avatar and Avengers: Endgame, and has made her mark in numerous sci-fi franchises, from Star Trek to Guardians of the Galaxy. Her work in James Cameron’s Avatar series, performed via motion-capture, has notably embraced ground-breaking technical advances in filmmaking and earned both critical and awards recognition.

The breadth of her talent and work can also be seen from her breakout role in the 2000 film Centre Stage, through to Out of the Furnace, Colombiana and the mini-series Rosemary’s Baby. Saldaña’s efforts as a producer have helped bring diverse narratives and honest portrayals of women in particular to the screen, including her acclaimed TV series Special Ops: Lioness, in which she also stars, and her recent film The Absence of Eden, which shed a light on trafficking across the US-Mexico border. Earlier this year, Saldaña won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress for Emilia Pérez alongside her costars Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez and Adriana Paz.

“Critics have long been fans of Zoe Saldaña’s ground-breaking work,” says Rich Cline, chair of London Film Critics’ Circle, “from her astonishingly nuanced turns in genre pieces like Avatar and Guardians of the Galaxy to her pioneering role producing complex female narratives. And in Emilia Pérez she wowed us with a beautifully nuanced, full-bodied performance from the heart.”

Malcolm was a long-standing member of the Critics’ Circle and served a term as its president. As chief critic for The Guardian and The Evening Standard, he had a huge impact on the film industry and was widely respected as a champion of world cinema. In addition to hosting The Film Club on the BBC and publishing several books, he was honorary president of Fipresci, a former director of London Film Festival and governor of the British Film Institute.

The nominations for the 45th London Critics’ Circle Film Awards were announced yesterday, with Sean Baker’s Anora and Brady Corbet’s The Brutalist leading with seven nods each. Edward Berger’s Conclave and Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance followed with six nominations each, while Emilia Pérez&n

The Bond star will receive the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film at the UK film critics' 45th annual ceremony on 2nd February 2025.

The UK's leading film critics today announced that British acting powerhouse Daniel Craig will be awarded their top honour, the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film, at the 45th London Critics' Circle Film Awards ceremony on Sunday 2nd February at The May Fair Hotel.

“This is such an immense honour and I’m incredibly grateful to the London Film Critics’ Circle,” says Daniel Craig on receiving news of the award.

“As critics, we were already fans of Daniel Craig for the adventurous roles he took on even before he became James Bond,” says Rich Cline, Chair of the Critics' Circle Film Section. “We honoured him for his roles in The Mother (2003) and Enduring Love (2004), and then of course we also enjoyed his superb take on 007 as well. Over the decades, he has consistently made bold choices and pushed against the boundaries that often limit other top stars. We love the Knives Out movies, and have nominated him this year for Queer. We are looking forward to celebrating his career at our ceremony.”

Before starring as 007, Craig received critical acclaim for his performances in films such as John Maybury's Love Is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon and Sam Mendes' Road to Perdition in 2002. He starred in Steven Spielberg's Munich that same year.

In 2006, Craig assumed the iconic role as the legendary James Bond in the critically acclaimed Casino Royale. The actor then went on to portray 007 in four more films: Quantum of Solace in 2008, Skyfall in 2012 and Spectre in 2015, with his run as Bond culminating with the release of No Time to Die in 2021. In recent years, Craig starred as detective Benoit Blanc in the hit mystery Knives Out (2019), reprising the role in Glass Onion and the forthcoming Wake Up Dead Man.

Last year, the London critics presented the Dilys Powell Award to Jeffrey Wright. Recent recipients have included Michelle Yeoh, Sandy Powell, Sally Potter, Pedro Almodovar and Kate Winslet. At the 2024 ceremony, Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest and Andrew Haigh's All of Us Strangers won three awards each. Colman Domingo received the inaugural Derek Malcolm Award for Innovation, which will be presented to Zoe Saldaña at this year's 45th awards on 2nd February at The May Fair Hotel. Brady Corbet's The Brutalist and Sean Baker's Anora lead the nominees.

The awards are given by the 210-member Film Section of the Critics' Circle, the UK's longest-standing and most prestigious critics' organisation. The May Fair Hotel, part of Edwardian Hotels London, is the main sponsor of the event, while awards sponsors include Reddit, MetFilm and Seesaw Media. In-kind sponsors include Wild Idol non-alcoholic sparkling wine, cocktail specialists Gattertop Drinks Co, print solutions experts MTA Digital, Excel Executive cars and Onlooker.tv, the video production group that will once again live-stream the ceremony on the Critics' Circle YouTube Channel @criticscirclefilmsection.

The Golden Globes, often referred to as “Hollywood’s Party of the Year®,” is the largest awards show in the world to celebrate the best of both film and television. Emmy®-nominated comedian and actress Nikki Glaser hosted this year’s show, and multi-Emmy Award®-winning producing duo Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner of White Cherry Entertainment (WCE) served as executive producing showrunners for the 82nd Golden Globes. A Dick Clark Productions : the annual Golden Globes have been viewed in more than 185 countries and territories worldwide.

Best Motion Picture, Drama
“The Brutalist”
Nominees in this category: “The Brutalist”; “A Complete Unknown”; “Conclave”; “Dune: Part Two”; “Nickel Boys”; “September 5”
 

Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
“Emilia Pérez”
Nominees in this category: “Anora”; “Challengers”; “Emilia Pérez”; “A Real Pain”; “The Substance”; “Wicked”

Best Motion Picture, Animated
“Flow”
Nominees in this category: “Flow”; “Inside Out 2”; “Memoir of a Snail”; ”Moana 2”; “The Wild Robot”; “Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl”

Cinematic and Box Office Achievement
“Wicked”
Nominees in this category: “Alien: Romulus”; “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice”; “Deadpool & Wolverine”; “Gladiator II”; “Inside Out 2”; “Twisters”; “Wicked”; “The Wild Robot”

Best Motion Picture, Non-English Language
“Emilia Pérez”
Nominees in this category: “All We Imagine as Light”; “Emilia Pérez”; “The Girl With the Needle”; “I’m Still Here”; “The Seed of the Sacred Fig”; “Vermiglio”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama
Fernanda Torres, “I’m Still Here”
Nominees in this category: Pamela Anderson, “The Last Showgirl”; Angelina Jolie, “Maria”; Nicole Kidman, “Babygirl”; Tilda Swinton, “The Room Next Door”; Fernanda Torres, “I’m Still Here”; Kate Winslet, “Lee”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama
Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist”
Nominees in this category: Adrien Brody, “The Brutalist”; Timothée Chalamet, “A Complete Unknown”; Daniel Craig, “Queer”; Colman Domingo, “Sing Sing”; Ralph Fiennes, “Conclave”; Sebastian Stan, “The Apprentice”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy
Demi Moore, “The Substance”
Nominees in this category: Amy Adams, “Nightbitch”; Cynthia Erivo, “Wicked”; Karla Sofía Gascón, “Emilia Pérez”; Mikey Madison, “Anora”; Demi Moore, “The Substance”; Zendaya, “Challengers”

The Palm Springs International Film Awards has announced that Denis Villeneuve will receive the Visionary Award for Dune: Part Two. The Film Awards will take place on January 3, 2025, at the Palm Springs Convention Center, with the festival running January 2-13, 2025. The event will be presented by Silvercrest and sponsored by Entertainment Tonight.

“Denis Villeneuve has once again pushed the boundaries of cinematic storytelling with Dune: Part Two. His visionary direction and unparalleled attention to detail have not only brought Frank Herbert's epic saga to life but also set a new standard for what film can achieve,” said Festival Chairman Nachhattar Singh Chandi. “A true visual masterpiece, Villeneuve's work transcends entertainment, immersing audiences in a universe where every frame is a testament to his artistry and innovation. It is our honor to present Denis Villeneuve with the Visionary Award.”

The Visionary Award is presented to a filmmaker who breaks boundaries in the art of cinema. In the years that they were honored with the Visionary Award, Alfonso Cuarón (Roma) and Michel Hazanavicius (The Artist) received the Academy Award for Best Director; Richard Linklater (Boyhood), Tom McCarthy (Spotlight), Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), and Quentin Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds) went on to receive Academy Award nominations for Best Director. All of these directors’ films received Best Picture Academy Award nominations, with The Artist and Spotlight receiving the Best Picture Award.

Villeneuve joins this year’s announced honorees: Adrien Brody (Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor); Timothée Chalamet (Chairman’s Award); Conclave (Ensemble Performance Award) presented to actors Ralph Fiennes, Isabella Rossellini, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Lucian Msamati; Kieran Culkin (Breakthrough Performance Award, Actor); Colman Domingo (Spotlight Award, Actor); Ariana Grande (Rising Star Award); Angelina Jolie (Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actress); Nicole Kidman (International Star Award); Mikey Madison (Breakthrough Performance Award, Actress); and Emilia Pérez (Vanguard Award) presented to director Jacques Audiard and actors Karla Sofia Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Edgar Ramírez.

Dune: Part Two, based on the second half of Frank Herbert’s acclaimed novel, completes the cautionary tale of Paul Atreides’ swift and dangerous rise to power. Vengeance, prophecy, fervent followers and political manipulation ultimately lead Paul to abandon the formidable pull of love and his conscience to accept a fate he knows will destroy so much.

In this epic conclusion, internationally acclaimed writer-director Denis Villeneuve dives deep into the psychological lure of power while expanding the story’s scope and scale. Villeneuve’s take on what many consider an unadaptable classic delivers a bold and artistic cinematic vision that pushes the boundaries of immersive storytelling.

The film stars a decorated international ensemble of Academy Award® nominees and winners, including Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Léa Seydoux, Stellan Skarsgård, Charlotte Rampling, and Javier Bardem, who bring Villeneuve’s compelling characters to life.

Villeneuve also reunites with many of his renowned, award-winning collaborators from the first film to execute his unique vision, including co-writer Jon Spaihts, cinematographer Greig Fraser, editor Joe Walker, costume designer Jacqueline West, production designer

Conversations to include guests from films Babygirl, A Real Pain, Sing Sing, and Wicked;

Emilia Pérez and Maria to be presented by Women In Motion

The Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) has announced the lineup for its Talking Pictures program, featuring in-depth discussions with actors being honored at the Palm Springs International Film Awards. This year’s program includes Babygirl with Nicole Kidman; Emilia Pérez with director Jacques Audiard as well as actors Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, and Edgar Ramírez; Maria with Angelina Jolie; A Real Pain with Jesse Eisenberg; Sing Sing with Colman Domingo; and Wicked with Cynthia Erivo , Ariana Grande, and John M. Chu. The Emilia Peréz and Maria Talking Pictures will be presented by Women In Motion, a Kering program to shine a light on women in arts and culture. The schedule is listed below along with attending guests.

Thursday, January 2

3:30 p.m.

A Real Pain at Annenberg Theater. Q&A following screening with actor, director, producer and screenwriter Jesse Eisenberg.

Mismatched cousins David (Jesse Eisenberg) and Benji (Kieran Culkin) reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the odd-couple's old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history. Directed and written by Jesse Eisenberg, the film stars Eisenberg alongside Culkin with a cast rounded out by Will Sharpe, Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egyiawan, Liza Sadovy, and Daniel Oreskes.

Friday, January 3

10:00 a.m.

Sing Sing at Palm Springs Cultural Center (Camelot Theatres). Q&A following screening with actor Colman Domingo.

Divine G (Colman Domingo), imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he didn’t commit, finds purpose by acting in a theatre group alongside other incarcerated men, including wary newcomer (Clarence Maclin), in this stirring true story of resilience, humanity, and the transformative power of art, starring an unforgettable ensemble cast of formerly incarcerated actors. Directed by Greg Kwedar, Domingo also executive produced the film.

10:30 a.m.

Babygirl at Richards Center for the Arts at Palm Springs High School. Q&A following screening with actress Nicole Kidman and director Halina Reijn.

In Babygirl, Romy, played by Kidman, is a high-powered CEO who puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much younger intern. As a polished CEO, a mother and wife living in New York City, Romy lives in a world of careful control, tight scheduling, and an all-too-keen awareness of how she’s perceived at the heights of a male-dominated field. In her own long-term marriage, she has also never truly found pleasure with her sweet, caring, and artistically driven husband. As Romy attempts to hold together her gilded persona, she is quickly undone after she meets Samuel. The film also stars Harris Dickinson, Antonio Banderas, and Sophie Wilde.

11:00 a.m.

Maria at Annenberg Theater. Q&A following screening with actress Angelina Jolie. 

From director Pablo Larraín, Maria stars Academy Award winner Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas, one of the greatest opera singers of the 20th century. The film follows the American-Greek soprano as she retreats to Paris after a glamorous and tumultuous life in the public eye. Maria reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days as the diva reckons with her identity and life