Palm Springs International Film Awards Presents Penélope Cruz with the International Star Award, Actress

Palm Springs, CA (November 15, 2021) – The Palm Springs International Film Awards has announced that Penélope Cruz is the recipient of the International Star Award, Actress for her performance in Parallel Mothers. The Film Awards will take place in-person on January 6, 2022 at the Palm Springs Convention Center, with the festival running through January 17, 2022. The event will be presented by American Express and sponsored by Entertainment Tonight.

“Penélope Cruz has collaborated with Pedro Almodóvar on so many wonderful films, from Broken Embraces to Volver, and their partnership truly shines with her brilliant performance in Parallel Mothers, which has already earned international festival honors,” said Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “She is an actress with immense depth and humanity, giving the world a tremendous body of work for three decades. For her poignant work in Parallel Mothers, it is our honor to present the International Star Award, Actress to Penélope Cruz.”

Past recipients of the International Star Award, Actress include Nicole Kidman, Helen Mirren, and Saoirse Ronan and Charlize Theron. Last year’s recipient Carey Mulligan went on to receive an Academy Award Best Actress nomination. Cruz joins this year’s previously announced honoree Kristen Stewart (Spotlight Award, Actress).  

In Parallel Mothers, two women share a hospital room where they are going to give birth. Both are single and became pregnant by accident. Janis (Cruz), middle-aged, doesn’t regret it and she is exultant. The other, Ana (Milena Smit), an adolescent, is scared, repentant and traumatized. Janis tries to encourage her while they move like sleepwalkers along the hospital corridors. The few words they exchange in those hours will create a very close link between the two, which by chance develops and becomes complicated, changing their lives in a decisive way. The Sony Pictures Classic film is written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar stars Penélope Cruz, Milena Smith, Israel Elejalde, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Rossy de Palma and Julieta Serrano.

Penélope Cruz is an acclaimed film star and producer who has earned a diversity of honors. They include an Academy Award, Cannes Film Festival and Venice Film Festival Best Actress Awards, as well as those from the New York Film Critics, LA Film Critics, BAFTAs, Goya Awards, César Awards, European Film Awards and many others. In addition to numerous projects with director Pedro Almodóvar including Pain & Glory, Volver, Broken Embraces, Live Flesh and All About My Mother, her other films include Don’t Move, Loving Pablo, Murder on the Orient Express, The Queen of Spain, Ma Ma, Elegy , Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Nine, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, To Rome with Love, All the Pretty Horses, Woman on Top, Open Your Eyes, Twice Born, Everybody Knows, Vanilla Sky, and Belle Epoque. Her U.S. television debut as Donatella Versace in FX’s “American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace” earned Emmy, Golden Globe, and SAG award nominations.

About the Palm Springs International Film Society

The Palm Springs International Film Society is a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit organization whose mission is to cultivate and promote the art and science of film through education and cross-cultural awareness. The Film Society produces the Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) and Film Awards every January and Palm Springs ShortFest in June. In addition to curating the best in international cinema, PSIFF’s Film Awards has come to be known as the first stop on the campaign trail for the Academy Awards® and our Oscar®-qualifying ShortFest is the largest short film festival and market in North America. Our festivals, year-round member screenings and educational programs manifest our organization’s mission by nurturing and encouraging new filmmaking talent, honoring the great masters of world cinema, and expanding audience horizons.

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