Tag: 54th San Francisco International Film Festival

Terence Stamp To Receive Peter J. Owens Award At 54th San Francisco International Film Festival

Actor Will Receive Honor at Film Society Awards Night at Bimbo’s 365 Club
and Onstage Tribute at Castro Theatre

San Francisco, CA — The San Francisco Film Society has announced that Terence Stamp will be the recipient of the Peter J. Owens Award at the 54th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 21 – May 5). The Owens Award, named for the longtime San Francisco benefactor of arts and charitable organizations and Film Society board member, honors an actor whose work exemplifies brilliance, independence and integrity. The award will be presented to Stamp at Film Society Awards Night, Thursday, April 28 at Bimbo’s 365 Club.

The Film Society’s highly regarded Youth Education program will be the beneficiary of the glamorous fundraiser honoring Stamp. Oliver Stone, recipient of the Founder’s Directing Award and Frank Pierson, recipient of the Kanbar Award for excellence in screenwriting will also be honored at the star-studded event. Melanie and Lawrence Blum are chairs of this year’s Film Society Awards Night, and Carla Emil and Rich Silverstein are the honorary chairs.

“I am exceptionally happy that we are able to honor Terence Stamp at this year’s Festival,” said Graham Leggat, the San Francisco Film Society’s executive director. “From his Oscar-nominated debut in Billy Budd (1962) through countless wonderful roles since, he has created truly memorable onscreen characters with a remarkable blend of élan, intensity and charisma.” 

Stamp will also be honored at An Evening with Terence Stamp at the Castro Theatre at 7:30 pm, Friday, April 29. A screening of a film featuring one of his iconic performances will follow an onstage interview and a selection of clips from his impressive career.

Terence Stamp’s motion picture debut in the title role in Peter Ustinov’s 1962 film adaptation of Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, brought him not only an Academy Award nomination but also international attention. He went on to collaborate with some of cinema’s most revered filmmakers including William Wyler (The Collector 1965), Joseph Losey (Modesty Blaise 1966), John Schlesinger (Far from the Madding Crowd 1967), Ken Loach (Poor Cow 1967), Federico Fellini (Toby Dammit segment of Spirits of the Dead 1968), Pier Palo Pasolini (Teorema 1968), Peter Brook (Meetings with Remarkable Men 1979), Richard Lester (Superman II 1980), Stephen Frears (The Hit 1984) and Oliver Stone (Wall Street 1987).

Stamp began his fourth decade as an actor in Stefan Elliot’s comedy The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) and attended the picture’s world premiere at the San Francisco International Film Festival. For his lead role in Steven Soderbergh’s The Limey (1999), which debuted to widespread critical acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival, he received nominations for Best Male Lead at the 2000 Independent Spirit Awards and for Best British Actor at the London Film Critic Circle Awards.

Currently he can be seen opposite Matt Damon and Emily Blunt in The Adjustment Bureau.

Previous recipients of the Film Society’s Peter J. Owens Award are Robert Duvall, Robert Redford, Maria Bello, Robin Williams, Ed Harris, Joan Allen, Chris Cooper, Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Spacey, Stockard Channing, Winona Ryder, Sean Penn, Nicolas Cage, Annette Bening and Harvey Keitel. The Peter J. Owens Award is made possible through a grant from the Peter J. Owens Trust at the San Francisco Foundation.

For tickets and information for Film Society Awards Night only call 415-561-5049. Admission to the tribute to Terence Stamp at the Castro Theatre on Friday, April 29 is $20 for San Francisco Film Society members and $25 for the general public. For tickets and information visit sffs.org/tickets.

For tickets and information visit fest11.sffs.org.

54th San Francisco International Film Festival Will Present Founder’s Directing Award To OLIVER STONE

Director Will Receive Honor at Film Society Awards Night at Bimbo’s 365 Club and Onstage Tribute at Sundance Kabuki Cinemas

San Francisco, CA — The San Francisco Film Society has announced that Oliver Stone will be the recipient of the Founder’s Directing Award at the 54th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 21 – May 5). The FDA will be presented to Stone at Film Society Awards Night, Thursday, April 28 at Bimbo’s 365 Club.

The Film Society’s highly regarded Youth Education program will be the beneficiary of the glamorous fundraiser honoring Stone. The soon-to-be-announced recipient of the Peter J. Owens Award for excellence in acting and Frank Pierson, recipient of the Kanbar Award for excellence in screenwriting will also be honored at the star-studded event. Melanie and Lawrence Blum are chairs of this year’s Film Society Awards Night, and Carla Emil and Rich Silverstein are the honorary chairs.

“We are thrilled to honor Oliver Stone at this year’s Festival,” said Graham Leggat, the San Francisco Film Society’s executive director. “He is in the midst of a remarkable career built on the confidence that complex ideas can be molded into popular cinema.”

Stone will also be honored at An Evening with Oliver Stone at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas at 7:00 pm, Wednesday, April 27. An onstage interview and a selection of clips from his extensive directing career will be followed by a screening of one of his feature works.

The Founder’s Directing Award is presented each year to a master of world cinema and is given in memory of Irving M. Levin, visionary founder of the San Francisco International Film Festival in 1957. It is made possible by Fred M. Levin and Nancy Livingston. The award was first bestowed in 1986 on iconic filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, and for many years carried his name.

Oliver Stone has directed many era-defining features including Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010), W. (2008), World Trade Center (2006), Nixon (1995), Natural Born Killers (1994), JFK (1991), The Doors (1991), Born on the Fourth of July (1989), Wall Street (1987), Platoon (1986) and Salvador (1986).

He has also written or cowritten all of the above (except Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, W. and World Trade Center), as well as Midnight Express (1978), Scarface (1983) and Conan the Barbarian (1982), among others.

Recently he has added documentaries to his resume including South of the Border (2009), Looking for Fidel (2004), Comandante (2003), Persona Non Grata (2003) and the upcoming Showtime series Forgotten History of the United States.

Stone has produced or coproduced numerous films including The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), The Joy Luck Club (1993) and Reversal of Fortune (1990).

He won Oscars for directing Born on the Fourth of July and Platoon, and for writing Midnight Express. He was nominated for directing JFK and for cowriting Nixon. He has also received three Golden Globes for directing (Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, JFK) and one for writing (Midnight Express).

Stone was born September 15, 1946 in New York City. Prior to his film career, he worked as a schoolteacher in Vietnam, a Merchant Marine sailor, taxi driver, messenger, production assistant and sales representative. He served in the U.S. Army Infantry in Vietnam in 1967-68.  He was wounded twice and decorated with the Bronze Star for valor. After returning from Vietnam, Stone completed his undergraduate studies at New York University Film School in 1971.

The award has brought many of the world’s most visionary directors to the San Francisco International Film festival over the years. Previous recipients are Walter Salles, Brazil; Francis Ford Coppola, USA; Mike Leigh, England; Spike Lee, USA; Werner Herzog, Germany; Taylor Hackford, USA; Milos Forman, Czechoslovakia/USA; Robert Altman, USA; Warren Beatty, USA; Clint Eastwood, USA; Abbas Kiarostami, Iran; Arturo Ripstein, Mexico; Im Kwon-Taek, Korea; Francesco Rosi, Italy; Arthur Penn, USA; Stanley Donen, USA; Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal; Ousmane Sembène, Senegal; Satyajit Ray, India; Marcel Carné, France; Jirí Menzel, Czechoslovakia; Joseph L. Mankiewicz, USA; Robert Bresson, France; Michael Powell, England; and Akira Kurosawa, Japan.

For tickets and information for Film Society Awards Night only call 415-561-5049. Admission to the tribute to Oliver Stone at Sundance Kabuki Cinemas on Wednesday, April 27 is $20 for San Francisco Film Society members and $25 for the general public. For tickets and information visit sffs.org/tickets.