<\/p>\n
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. \u2014 Leonardo DiCaprio emphasized the importance of creating cinema over content at the Palm Springs Film Festival Friday night. <\/p>\n
\u201cMovies are still meant to be experienced, together, in a theatre. Right now, that belief matters more than ever. Original films are harder to make and harder to protect. But movies still matter, not content, but cinema. Stories made by people meant to be shared in a dark room in a communal experience,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
The \u201cOne Battle After Another\u201d actor accepted the award via a pre-recorded video. Variety reported that he was be unable to attend the film festival due to the ongoing political conflict with Venezuela, which led to the cancellation of multiple flights out of the Caribbean, where the actor was spotted vacationing over the holiday season. His co-stars, Chase Infiniti and Teyana Taylor, accepted the award on his behalf. <\/p>\n
The 37th annual International Film Awards at the festival in Palm Springs, California, kicks off Hollywood\u2019s whirlwind award season, honoring some of the film industry\u2019s most anticipated award contenders. <\/p>\n
The glamorous night was full of long, heartfelt speeches, each emphasizing the importance of unity amongst artists and the importance of keeping original storytelling and movie theaters alive.<\/p>\n
While accepting the Icon Award, Actor Michael B. Jordan told his colleagues to continue to tell original stories that build unity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe films were honoring tonight inspire each other to do more, to be better, to see each other more clearly and make the world a brighter place. And maybe when the lights come up in the theater, we could step back into the sun together,\u201d said the actor.<\/p>\n
Cyrus accepted the Outstanding Artistic Achievement Award for her song \u201cDream As One\u201d in \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash.\u201d The recording artist hopes artists will pivot to becoming more community-focused instead of seeing each other as competitors.<\/p>\n
\u201cNumbers can make it feel like a sport, but performance runs so much deeper than a scoreboard, because each artist can bare their soul in a completely unique way and every contribution leaves its own mark on history,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Jane Fonda briefly led the audience in a breathing exercise before presenting \u201cHamnet’s” Chloe Zhao, Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley with the Vanguard Award. Fonda credited the call to the action to director Chloe Zhao, who would routinely lead similar exercises before festival screenings of \u201cHamnet.” <\/p>\n
Guillermo del Toro stood alongside his \u201cFrankenstein\u201d cast to receive the Visionary Award.<\/p>\n
The director revealed he recently lost his older brother and reflected on the relevance of Mary Shelley\u2019s classic novel as the world continues to grapple with emerging technology and division. For del Toro, it’s relevance means two things: \u201cWe never learn, and sometimes the only way to talk about humanity is through monsters.\u201d <\/p>\n
Timoth\u00e8e Chalamet received the Spotlight Award, and focused his speech on his \u201cMarty Supreme\u201d character’s pursuit of greatness and making his dreams come true.<\/p>\n
Mahershala Ali presented Ethan Hawke with the Career Achievement Award, reminiscing on how Hawke\u2019s performance in \u201cReality Bites\u201d was one of many films that inspired his early acting days.<\/p>\n
Hawke’s acceptance speech gave credit to the friends and collaborators that left a mark on who he is today and remembered the influence the late River Phoenix had on his life. <\/p>\n
\u201cI stand here in front of you a sum accumulation of all of the individuals who helped shape me,\u201d said the actor. <\/p>\n
Hawke made his way to the stage a second time for a \u201cFirst Reformed\u201d reunion with former co-star Amanda Seyfried to present her with the Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actress.<\/p>\n
Seyfried was quick to point out the unexpected full-circle moment while receiving the same award as DiCaprio. <\/p>\n
\u201cI want to thank Leo for inspiring me to be an actor. So, it\u2019s weird. It’s amazing to get this award. It\u2019s the same title of the award, so it\u2019s like sharing it with him? Sort of? Maybe,\u201d said the actor.<\/p>\n
The night continued with laughter from actor and comedian Adam Sandler after Laura Dern presented him with the Chairman\u2019s Award. Sandler accepted his award with none other than a short stand-up routine about what his life would have looked like if he had chosen a quieter life instead of working in entertainment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d probably still have a deal with Netflix. But I\u2019d be paying them a monthly fee so I can watch \u201dStranger Things\u201d last season,\u201d said the comedian.<\/p>\n
The cast of \u201cSentimental Value\u201d accepted the International Star Award as an ensemble. Rose Byrne took home the Breakthrough Performance Award, Actress, for her work on \u201cIf I Had Legs I\u2019d Kick You,\u201d poking fun at the idea of receiving a breakthrough award in her 40s. The show concluded with Kate Hudson accepting the Icon Award, Actress for her work in \u201cSong Sung Blue.\u201d <\/p>\n
Award season continues with the 31st annual Critics\u2019 Choice Awards and next Sunday with the 83rd annual Golden Globes.<\/p>\n
“<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.newsday.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PALM SPRINGS, Calif. \u2014 Leonardo DiCaprio emphasized the importance of creating cinema over content at the Palm Springs Film Festival Friday night. \u201cMovies are still meant to be experienced, together, in a theatre. Right now, that belief matters more than ever. Original films are harder to make and harder to protect. But movies still matter, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2169615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[359676,21741,21912,307696],"class_list":["post-2221575","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-ap-a-wire","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-wires-bot"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Right-hander-Alex-Lange-agrees-to-contract-with-Royals-2-days.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2221575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2221575"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2221575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2221576,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2221575\/revisions\/2221576"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2169615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2221575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2221575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2221575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}