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Jamie Lee Curtis and Nicole Kidman
Image courtesy of Getty Images and Palm Springs International Film Festival
Timothée Chalamet and Gary Oldman
Image courtesy of Getty Images and Palm Springs International Film Festival
Coleman Domingo and Demi Moore
Image courtesy of Getty Images and Palm Springs International Film Festival
For nearly half of the Palm Springs International Film Festival’s (PSIFF) 36-year history, Chihuly’s Gilded Emerald Piccolo Venetian with Sunburst Coils has been a fixture on the awards stage. This year, honorees at both PSIFF’s Flim Awards and Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch and Creative Impact Awards included top names in film—Jacques Audiard, Adrian Brody, Timothée Chalamet, Coleman Domingo, Cynthia Erivo, Angelina Jolie, Nicole Kidman, and Jennifer Lopez—who took home the iconic award recognizing innovation in film.
This independent film festival celebrates innovation and—like Chihuly whose work embraces several disciplines including drawing, photography, and more—breaking boundaries in artmaking.
In some ways, one of those creative disciplines is directing. When serious injuries forced Chihuly to step away from the hard physical labor of glassblowing, he took on a role that he often compares to that of a film director: creating the vision and shaping the work created by a multidisciplinary team. “I’ve often thought that I might have liked to be a director,” he has said. “I imagine it’s like the way I work with my team to create a composition.”
Representing Chihuly’s deep love of cinema and kinship with film directors, this award is not only synonymous with the past year’s freshest achievements in independent film, but it represents the connection between artistic mediums.
Stay tuned for upcoming posts about Leslie and Dale Chihuly’s history in Palm Springs and their support of the festival.