Orcas Island to honour Josephine director Beth de Araújo
Beth de Araújo will be honoured with the Jean-Marc Vallée Vanguard Award at the Orcas Island Film Festival, which runs 14 to 18 October, Deadline reported exclusively on 29 September.
De Araújo directed Josephine, which stars Gemma Chan and Channing Tatum. The film won two top prizes at the Sundance Film Festival: the Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic, chosen by a jury, and the Audience Award for U.S. Dramatic, voted by festivalgoers.
The Vanguard Award is named for the late filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée, a frequent guest of the Orcas Island event. It celebrates bold, distinctive artists whose work reflects Vallée's spirit of creative independence and discovery, according to the festival.
Producer Pamela Koffler, co-founder of Killer Films, has been named the festival's Marquee Industry Guest. She will discuss her work in a public conversation on Saturday, 17 October, moderated by Gregory Ellwood of The Playlist.
Koffler is heading into a busy awards season. She and fellow Killer Films co-founder Christine Vachon will receive the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, the Motion Picture Academy's honour for producers, at the Governors Awards in November.
What makes this stand out is the pairing. One guest is a director arriving with a double Sundance winner. The other is a veteran independent producer about to collect one of the industry's longest-running honours.
The gathering in Eastsound, Washington, is led by co-founder and co-director Carl Spence. The 12th edition will present 43 films from 25 countries, including 11 official Oscar submissions, according to the Orcas Island Film Festival.
