Carey Mulligan has been named recipient of the Breakthrough Performance Award at the 22nd annual Palm Springs International Film Festival, the PSIFF announced on Tuesday.
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Like the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, the Palm Springs fest is a January event that presents an array of awards and tributes to performers and filmmakers who are often in the thick of the awards race. Mulligan is currently starring in Mark Romanek’s “Never Let Me Go”; she also has a supporting role in Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.”
PSIFF’s choice of the Breakthrough Award for Mulligan is curious, since her breakthrough clearly took place in 2009, when she burst on the scene and won a Best Actress nomination for “An Education.” (She was also honored with a Virtuoso Award at the Santa Barbara fest for that performance.)
Last year’s winners of the award were Jeremy Renner and Mariah Carey, who delivered a famously rambling, disjointed acceptance speech. Past winners also include Marion Cotillard, Felicity Huffman, Freida Pinto and Jennifer Hudson.
Festival chairman Harold Matzner, in a press release announcing the selection, commented, “Carey Mulligan is an actress of extraordinary talent and versatility. In her most recent performances … she brings uncommon vision and depth to her art.”
Mulligan’s is the first of what will probably be about 10 PSIFF awards to be announced. The award will be presented on Saturday, January 8 at the Palm Springs Convention Center; the festival runs from January 6 through January 17.
(Photo by Darren Tieste)
