The 27th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will present “Spotlight” director Tom McCarthy with the Sonny Bono Visionary Award, the festival announced Tuesday.
Past recipients of the Sonny Bono Visionary Award include filmmakers Tom Hooper, Danny Boyle, Quentin Tarantino, Richard Linklater and Michel Hazanavicius.
McCarthy will join previously announced 2016 honorees Cate Blanchett, Johnny Depp, Brie Larson and Saoirse Ronan. The Awards Gala, hosted by Mary Hart, will be held Jan. 2 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The festival runs Jan. 1-11.
“Spotlight” is a film about the Boston Globe’s Pulitzer Prize-winning team of investigative journalists, who in 2002 shocked the city and the world by exposing the Catholic Church’s systematic cover-up of widespread pedophilia perpetrated by more than 70 local priests.
Produced by Open Road Films, “Spotlight” was co-written by McCarthy and Josh Singer. Producers include Michael Sugar, Steve Golin, Nicole Rocklin and Blye Pagon. It stars Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, John Slattery, Stanley Tucci, Brian d’Arcy James and Billy Crudup.
McCarthy’s credits include “The Station Agent,” “Win Win” and “The Visitor.” The actor-turned-director also worked on the screenplay for Disney-Pixar’s “Up,” which earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay.