Barbie director Greta Gerwig will receive the Director of the Year Award at the 2024 Palm Springs International Film Fest.
The film awards will take place on Jan. 4, with the festival running through Jan. 15.
Past recipients of the award include Jane Campion, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Steve McQueen, Alexander Payne, Sarah Polley, Jason Reitman, David O. Russell, Quentin Tarantino and Chloé Zhao. Campion, Iñárritu and Zhao went on to win the best director Oscar.
“Director Greta Gerwig has brought us the cinematic experience of the year with Barbie, the perfect blend of comedy, emotion and adventure that has both entertained and resonated with audiences, becoming a cultural touchstone around the world,” Festival chairman Nachhattar Singh Chandi says. “Gerwig is a masterful filmmaker, and her vision is brought to life so vividly by both the script she co-wrote with Noah Baumbach, and by her clear and singular collaboration with her extraordinary crafts teams, whose visuals are matched only by the outstanding performances delivered by Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling and the entire cast. It is our honor to present the Director of the Year Award to Greta Gerwig.”
Gerwig co-wrote and directed Barbie this year. Her previous credits include Little Women and Lady Bird but has also starred in films like Frances Ha, White Noise, Jackie, 20th Century Women and others.
The festival previously announced that Emma Stone would receive the Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actress, while Cillian Murphy would receive the corresponding actor award. Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon will be honored with this year’s Vanguard Award.
