# 35th Palm Springs International Film Festival

The 35th Palm Springs International Film Festival took place from January 4 to 14, 2024, in Palm Springs, California, United States. The festival opened with the world premiere of Thea Sharrock's comedy mystery film Wicked Little Letters and closed with Noah Pritzker's black comedy film Ex-Husbands.

## Background and special awards

As usual, throughout late 2023, several special awards were announced, which were presented at the Opening Gala on January 4, 2023, at the Palm Springs Convention Center. Martin Scorsese's western drama Killers of the Flower Moon received the Vanguard Award. The Desert Palm Achievement for Best Actor and Best Actress went to Cillian Murphy and Emma Stone for their performances in Oppenheimer and Poor Things, respectively. Da'Vine Joy Randolph won the Breakthrough Performance Award for The Holdovers, while Jeffrey Wright received the Career Achievement Award for American Fiction. Comedy musical film Barbie received two awards: Director of the Year to Greta Gerwig and the Chairman's Award to Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell for the song "What Was I Made For?". British actress Carey Mulligan won the International Star Award for Maestro. The Spotlight Award went to Colman Domingo for Rustin and Danielle Brooks for The Color Purple. Paul Giamatti was honored with the Icon Award for The Holdovers.
The following day, on January 5, the Variety's 10 Directors to Watch brunch took place at the Parker Palm Springs, where three Creative Impact awards were presented: Creative Impact in Acting Award to Penélope Cruz; Creative Impact in Screenwriting Award to Eric Roth; and Creative Impact in Directing Award to Yorgos Lanthimos.

## Juries

The juries consists of the following members:

### FIPRESCI International Film Jury

* Marriska Fernandes, Canadian film critic.
* Steffen Moestrup, Danish film critic.
* Wilfred Okiche, Nigerian film critic.

### Ibero-American Jury

* Aitch Alberto, American screenwriter and producer at Vaca Frita Inc.
* Kristen Lopez, film editor at TheWrap.
* Sheryl Santacruz, festival director for the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival.

### Documentary Jury

* Nive Das, South Asian documentary film director and member of Brown Girls Doc Mafia.
* Ken Jacobson, executive director for the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival.
* Elvis Mitchell, American film critic and host at KCRW.

### New Voices New Visions

* Liliana Granados, Mexican-American film producer.
* Sonaiya Kelley, American reporter at Los Angeles Times.
* Jacqueline Lyanga, American film curator at US Delegate for the Berlin International Film Festival.

## Sections

The films selected for each section are as follows:

### Awards Buzz – Best International Feature Film Submissions

The following section consists of submissions for Best International Feature Film at the 96th Academy Awards:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| 20 Days in Mariupol | 20 днів у Маріуполі | Mstyslav Chernov | Ukraine |
| About Dry Grasses | Kuru Otlar Üstüne | Nuri Bilge Ceylan | Turkey |
| Behind the Haystacks | Πίσω από τις θημωνιές | Asimina Proedrou | Greece |
| Blaga's Lessons | Уроците на Блага | Stephan Komandarev | Bulgaria |
| Brothers | Bratři | Tomáš Mašín [cs] | Czech Republic |
| The Burdened | المرهقون | Amr Gamal | Yemen |
| Bye Bye Tiberias | باي باي طبريا | Lina Soualem | Palestine |
| City of Wind | Сэр сэр салхи | Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir | Mongolia |
| Concrete Utopia | 콘크리트 유토피아 | Um Tae-hwa | South Korea |
| The Delinquents | Los delincuentes | Rodrigo Moreno | Argentina |
| Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World | Nu aștepta prea mult de la sfârșitul lumii | Radu Jude | Romania |
| Fallen Leaves | Kuolleet lehdet | Aki Kaurismäki | Finland |
| Four Daughters | بنات ألفة | Kaouther Ben Hania | Tunisia |
| Godland | Volaða land / Vanskabte Land | Hlynur Pálmason | Iceland |
| Goodbye Julia | وداعا جوليا | Mohamed Kordofani | Sudan |
| Housekeeping for Beginners | Домаќинство за почетници | Goran Stolevski | North Macedonia |
| In Flames | ان فلیمز | Zarrar Kahn | Pakistan |
| Inshallah a Boy | إن شاء الله ولد | Amjad Al-Rasheed | Jordan |
| Io Capitano | Io Capitano | Matteo Garrone | Italy |
| The Missing | Iti Mapukpukaw | Carl Joseph Papa | Philippines |
| The Monk and the Gun | The Monk and the Gun | Pawo Choyning Dorji | Bhutan |
| The Mother of All Lies | كذب أبيض | Asmae El Moudir | Morocco |
| Opponent | Motståndaren | Milad Alami | Sweden |
| The Peasants | Chłopi | DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman | Poland |
| Perfect Days | Perfect Days | Wim Wenders | Japan |
| The Promised Land | Bastarden | Nikolaj Arcel | Denmark |
| The Settlers | Los colonos | Felipe Gálvez Haberle | Chile |
| Seven Blessings | שבע ברכות | Ayelet Menahemi | Israel |
| Shayda | Shayda | Noora Niasari | Australia |
| Sira | Sira | Apolline Traoré | Burkina Faso |
| Smoke Sauna Sisterhood | Savvusanna sõsarad | Anna Hints | Estonia |
| Society of the Snow | La sociedad de la nieve | J.A. Bayona | Spain |
| Songs of Earth | Fedrelandet | Margreth Olin | Norway |
| Sweet Dreams | Sweet Dreams | Ena Sendijarević | Netherlands |
| The Taste of Things | La Passion de Dodin Bouffant | Trần Anh Hùng | France |
| The Teachers' Lounge | Das Lehrerzimmer | İlker Çatak | Germany |
| Tiger Stripes | Tiger Stripes | Amanda Nell Eu | Malaysia |
| Tótem | Tótem | Lila Avilés | Mexico |
| Vera | Vera | Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel | Austria |
| The Zone of Interest | The Zone of Interest | Jonathan Glazer | United Kingdom |
    Highlighted title indicates the section winner.

### Talking Pictures

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Talking Pictures section, each with discussion panels with their directors, writers and actors:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| American Fiction (with actor Jeffrey Wright) | American Fiction (with actor Jeffrey Wright) | Cord Jefferson | United States |
| Barbie (with director Greta Gerwig) | Barbie (with director Greta Gerwig) | Greta Gerwig | United States |
| Killers of the Flower Moon (with screenwriter Eric Roth) | Killers of the Flower Moon (with screenwriter Eric Roth) | Martin Scorsese | United States |

### Modern Masters

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Modern Masters section, consisting of new films by well-established directors:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| Anselm | Anselm – Das Rauschen der Zeit | Wim Wenders | Germany |
| Close Your Eyes | Cerrar los ojos | Víctor Erice | Spain, Argentina |
| The Convert | The Convert | Lee Tamahori | New Zealand, Australia, United Kingdom |
| Green Border | Zielona granica | Agnieszka Holland | Poland, Czech Republic, France, Belgium |
| Kidnapped | Rapito | Marco Bellocchio | Italy, France, Germany |
| La chimera | La chimera | Alice Rohrwacher | Italy, France, Switzerland |
| Monster | 怪物 | Hirokazu Kore-eda | Japan |
| The Old Oak | The Old Oak | Ken Loach | United Kingdom, France, Belgium |
| Shoshana | Shoshana | Michael Winterbottom | United States, Italy |

### New Voices New Visions

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the New Voices New Visions section:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| Animalia | Animalia | Sofia Alaoui | France, Morocco |
| The Animal Kingdom | Le Règne animal | Thomas Cailley | France, Belgium |
| Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person | Vampire humaniste cherche suicidaire consentant | Ariane Louis-Seize | Canada |
| The Kitchen | The Kitchen | Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Kaluuya | United Kingdom |
| Solitude [de] | Einvera | Ninna Pálmadóttir | Iceland, Slovakia, France |
| Stolen | Stolen | Karan Tejpal | India |
| The Sweet East | The Sweet East | Sean Price Williams | United States |
| We Have Never Been Modern | Úsvit | Matěj Chlupáček [cs] | Czech Republic, Slovakia |
    Highlighted title indicates the section winner.

### American Indies

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the American Indies section:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| Fairyland | Fairyland | Andrew Durham | United States |
| Fancy Dance | Fancy Dance | Erica Tremblay | United States |
| Fresh Kills | Fresh Kills | Jennifer Esposito | United States |
| LaRoy, Texas | LaRoy, Texas | Shane Atkinson | United States |
| Late Bloomers | Late Bloomers | Lisa Steen | United States |

### True Stories

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the True Stories section:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| A Look Through His Lens | A Look Through His Lens | Matthew Berkowitz and Gregory Hoblit | United States, France, Ireland, United Kingdom |
| All Illusions Must Be Broken | All Illusions Must Be Broken | Laura Dunn and Jef Sewell | United States |
| All We Carry | All We Carry | Cady Voge | United States, Mexico |
| Art for Everybody | Art for Everybody | Miranda Yousef | United States |
| Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism's Unholy War on Democracy | Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism's Unholy War on Democracy | Stephen Ujlaki and Chris Jones | United States |
| Born Hungry | Born Hungry | Barry Avrich | Canada, India |
| Call Me Dancer | Call Me Dancer | Leslie Shampaine and Pip Gilmour | India, United States, Israel |
| Common Ground | Common Ground | Josh Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell | United States |
| Copa 71 | Copa 71 | Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine | United Kingdom |
| The Echo | El eco | Tatiana Huezo | Mexico, Germany |
| First We Bombed New Mexico | First We Bombed New Mexico | Lois Lipman | United States |
| Flipside | Flipside | Chris Wilcha | United States |
| Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive | Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive | Betsy Schechter | United States, Spain |
| Going Varsity in Mariachi | Going Varsity in Mariachi | Alejandra Vasquez and Sam Osborn | United States |
| The Gullspång Miracle | Miraklet i Gullspång | Maria Fredriksson | Sweden, Norway, Denmark |
| Hidden Master: The Legacy of George Platt Lynes | Hidden Master: The Legacy of George Platt Lynes | Sam Shahid | United States |
| In the Rearview | Skąd dokąd / Звідки куди | Maciek Hamela | Poland, France, Ukraine |
| Liv Ullmann: A Road Less Traveled | Liv Ullmann: A Road Less Traveled | Dheeraj Akolkar | Norway, United Kingdom |
| Mad About the Boy: The Noel Coward Story | Mad About the Boy: The Noel Coward Story | Barnaby Thompson | United Kingdom, United States |
| Maestra | Maestra | Maggie Contreras | United States |
| Música! | Música! | Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman | United States |
| Obsessed with Light | Obsessed with Light | Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum | United States, France, Netherlands, Spain, Iceland |
| Queendom | Queendom | Agniia Galdanova | France, United States |
| Sloane: A Jazz Singer | Sloane: A Jazz Singer | Michael Lippert | United States |
| The Space Race | The Space Race | Diego Hurtado De Mendoza and Lisa Cortés | United States |
| Susan Feniger, Forked | Susan Feniger, Forked | Liz Lachman | United States, Vietnam, China |
| Swan Song | Swan Song | Chelsea McMullan | Canada |
| This World is Not My Own | This World is Not My Own | Petter Ringbom and Marquise Stillwell | United States, Sweden |
| Truth Be Told | Truth Be Told | Nneka Onuorah | United States |

### South Korean Focus

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the South Korean Focus section, dedicated to celebrate South Korean cinema:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| A Normal Family (2023) | 보통의 가족 | Hur Jin-ho | South Korea |
| Cobweb (2023) | 거미집 | Kim Jee-woon | South Korea |
| The Handmaiden (2016) | 아가씨 | Park Chan-Wook | South Korea |
| The Housemaid (1960) | 하녀 | Kim Ki-young | South Korea |
| In Our Day (2023) | 우리의 하루 | Hong Sang-soo | South Korea |
| Memories of Murder (2003) | 살인의 추억 | Bong Joon-ho | South Korea |
| Oasis (2002) | 오아시스 | Lee Chang-dong | South Korea |
| Sleep (2023) | 잠 | Jason Yu | South Korea |
| Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring (2003) | 봄 여름 가을 겨울 그리고 봄 | Kim Ki-duk | South Korea |
| Sunny (2011) | 써니 | Kang Hyeong-cheol | South Korea |
| Train to Busan (2016) | 부산행 | Yeon Sang-ho | South Korea |

### Queer Cinema Today & The Gayla

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Queer Cinema Today section and The Gayla:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| Big Boys | Big Boys | Corey Sherman | United States |
| Bonus Track | Bonus Track | Julia Jackman | United Kingdom |
| Chasing Chasing Amy | Chasing Chasing Amy | Sav Rodgers | United States |
| Chuck Chuck Baby | Chuck Chuck Baby | Janis Pugh | United Kingdom |
| Egoist | エゴイスト | Daishi Matsunaga | Japan |
| Studio One Forever | Studio One Forever | Marc Saltarelli | United States |
| Summer Qamp | Summer Qamp | Jen Markowitz | Canada |

### Spotlight: James Ivory

The following films were selected to be screened as part of a section destined to highlight American director James Ivory's filmography:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| The Bostonians (1984) | The Bostonians (1984) | James Ivory | United Kingdom, United States |
| Howards End (1992) | Howards End (1992) | James Ivory | United Kingdom |
| United Kingdom ||
| Merchant Ivory (2024) | Merchant Ivory (2024) | Stephen Soucy | United States |
| Quartet (1981) | Quartet (1981) | James Ivory | France, United Kingdom |
| Shakespeare Wallah (1965) | Shakespeare Wallah (1965) | James Ivory | United States, India |

### Family Day

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Family Day section:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| Dancing Queen | Dancing Queen | Aurora Gossé | Norway |
| Flamin' Hot | Flamin' Hot | Eva Longoria | United States |
| Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse | Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse | Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers and Justin K. Thompson | United States |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem | Jeff Rowe | United States |

### World Cinema Now

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the World Cinema Now section:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| 100 Yards | 100 Yards | Xu Haofeng and Xu Junfeng | China |
| 20,000 Species of Bees | 20.000 especies de abejas | Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren | Spain |
| All About the Lefvoviches | Lefkovicsék gyászolnak | Ádám Breier | Hungary |
| Amal | Amal | Jawad Rhalib | Belgium, France |
| BlackBerry | BlackBerry | Matt Johnson | Canada |
| Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry | Shashvi shashvi maq'vali | Elene Naveriani | Switzerland, Georgia |
| Bonjour Switzerland | Bonjour Switzerland | Peter Luisi | Switzerland, Italy |
| Chicken for Linda! | Linda veut du poulet! | Sébastien Laudenbach [fr] and Chiara Malta [fr] | France, Italy |
| Day Off | 本日公休 | Tien-Yu Fu | Taiwan |
| Empire | Viften | Frederikke Aspöck | Denmark |
| The Extortion | La extorsión | Martino Zaidelis [es] | Argentina |
| Ezra | Ezra | Tony Goldwyn | United States |
| The Fishbowl [de] | La pecera | Glorimar Marrero Sánchez | Puerto Rico, Spain |
| Freud's Last Session | Freud's Last Session | Matthew Brown | United States |
| The Goldman Case | Le Procès Goldman | Cédric Kahn | France |
| Guardians of the Formula | Čuvari formule | Dragan Bjelogrlić | Serbia, Slovenia, Montenegro, North Macedonia |
| Hajjan | هجّان | Abu Bakr Shawky | Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan |
| Hesitation Wound | Tereddüt Çizgisi | Selman Nacar | Turkey, Spain, Romania, France |
| Holly | Holly | Fien Troch | Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, France |
| Joika | Joika | James Napier Robertson | New Zealand, Poland |
| Les Indésirables | Bâtiment 5 | Ladj Ly | France |
| Let the Dance Begin | Empieza el baile | Marina Seresesky [es] | Argentina, Spain |
| Lies We Tell | Lies We Tell | Lisa Mulcahy | Ireland |
| Listen Up! | Listen Up! | Kaveh Tehrani | Norway |
| Memory | Memory | Michel Franco | United States, Mexico |
| Mr. Blake At Your Service! | Well Done!, Complètement cramé! | Gilles Legardinier | France |
| Mrs | Mrs | Arati Kadav | India |
| Night Courier | Night Courier | Ali Kalthami | Saudi Arabia |
| One Life | One Life | James Hawes | United Kingdom, United States |
| The Performance | The Performance | Shira Piven | United States |
| Power Alley | Levante | Lillah Halla | Brazil, France, Uruguay |
| Puan | Puan | María Alché [es] and Benjamín Naishtat | Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Italy, France |
| Red Rooms | Les chambres rouges | Pascal Plante | Canada |
| Temporaries | Richelieu | Pier-Philippe Chevigny | Canada, France |
| Robot Dreams | Robot Dreams | Pablo Berger | Spain, France |
| Running on Sand | Running on Sand | Adar Shafran | Israel |
| Shame on Dry Land | Syndabocken | Axel Petersén [sv] | Sweden, Malta |
| Sumo Didi | Sumo Didi | Jayant Rohatgi | India |
| Terrestrial Verses | آیه های زمینی | Ali Asgari and Alireza Khatami | Iran |
| They Shot the Piano Player | Dispararon al pianista | Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal | Spain, France, Netherlands, Portugal, Peru |
| Together 99 | Tillsammans 99 | Lukas Moodysson | Sweden, Denmark |
| The Trouble with Jessica | The Trouble with Jessica | Matt Winn | United Kingdom |
| Unicorns | Unicorns | Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd | United Kingdom, United States, Sweden |
| The Vanishing Soldier | החייל | Dani Rosenberg | Israel |
| Without Air | Elfogy a levegő | Katalin Moldovai | Hungary |
| Wonderland | 乐园 | Chai Yee Wei | Singapore, Malaysia, United States |

### Flashback

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Flashback section:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| Goodfellas (1990) | Goodfellas (1990) | Martin Scorsese | United States |
| Paris Is Burning (1990) | Paris Is Burning (1990) | Jennie Livingston | United States |
| Wild at Heart (1990) | Wild at Heart (1990) | David Lynch | United States |

### Local Spotlight

The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Local Spotlight section:
| English title | Original title | Director(s) | Production countrie(s) |
| Amongst the Trees | Amongst the Trees | Trent Ubben and Jack Jensen | United States |
| The Green Desert | The Green Desert | Leo Zahn | United States |

## Awards

The following awards were presented at the 35th Edition:

### International Film competition

* Best International Feature Film: Four Daughters by Kaouther Ben Hania
* Best Actor in an International Feature Film: Mads Mikkelsen for The Promised Land
* Best Actress in an International Feature Film: Leonie Benesch for The Teachers' Lounge
* Best International Screenplay: Jonathan Glazer for The Zone of Interest

### Ibero-American Competition

* Ibero-American Award: Power Alley by Lillah Halla
* Ibero-American Special Mention: 20,000 Species of Bees by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren

### Documentary competition

* Best Documentary: The Echo by Tatiana Huezo
* Special Mention: This World is Not My Own by Petter Ringbom and Marquise Stillwell

### New Voices New Visions

* New Voices New Visions Award: The Animal Kingdom by Thomas Cailley
* New Voices New Visions Special Mention: Animalia by Sofia Alaoui

### Other awards

* Local Jury Award: Wonderland by Chai Yee Wei
* Young Cineastes Award: Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person by Ariane Louis-Seize
* MOZAIK Bridging the Borders Award: Green Border by Agnieszka Holland
** MOZAIK Bridging the Borders Special Mention: The Old Oak by Ken Loach
* Audience Award for Best Fiction Film: One Life by James Hawes
* Audience Award for Best Documentary Film: Common Ground by Josh Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell

### Opening Gala Awards

The following awards were presented during the opening gala:
* Vanguard Award: Killers of the Flower Moon by Martin Scorsese
* Desert Palm Achievement for Best Actor: Cillian Murphy for Oppenheimer
* Desert Palm Achievement for Best Actress: Emma Stone for Poor Things
* Breakthrough Performance Award: Da'Vine Joy Randolph for The Holdovers
* Career Achievement Award: Jeffrey Wright for American Fiction
* Director of the Year Award: Greta Gerwig for Barbie
* International Star Award: Carey Mulligan for Maestro
* Spotlight Award: Colman Domingo for Rustin
* Spotlight Award: Danielle Brooks for The Color Purple
* Chairman's Award: Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell for the song "What Was I Made For?" from Barbie
* Icon Award: Paul Giamatti for The Holdovers.

### Creative Impact Awards

The following creative impact awards were presented:
* Creative Impact in Acting Award to Penélope Cruz
* Creative Impact in Screenwriting Award to Eric Roth
* Creative Impact in Directing Award to Yorgos Lanthimos

## Variety's 10 Directors to Watch

The list consisted of the following directors:
* Blitz Bazawule (The Color Purple)
* İlker Çatak (The Teachers' Lounge)
* Sophie Dupuis (Solo)
* Cord Jefferson (American Fiction)
* Titus Kaphar (Exhibiting Forgiveness)
* Anna Kendrick (Woman of the Hour)
* Kobi Libii (The American Society of Magical Negroes)
* Aaron Schimberg (A Different Man)
* Ena Sendijarević (Sweet Dreams)
* Eva Trobisch (Ivo)