Santa Barbara, CA - Academy Award® and BAFTA nominee Paul Giamatti will receive the Cinema Vanguard Award at the 39th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Giamatti will be honored on February 14, 2024 for his moving portrayal of curmudgeonly prep school teacher Paul Hunham in Focus Features’ THE HOLDOVERS. Earlier this month, Giamatti was awarded both a Golden Globe & Critics Choice Award for his outstanding performance.
“This is a long overdue tribute for an actor's actor who deserves all the accolades. His work has been exemplary and his collaborations with Alexander Payne are nothing short of perfection. I can’t think of anyone more worthy of this recognition for a performance in a film that so effortlessly navigates the intricate tapestry of human relationships” SBIFF’s Executive Director Roger Durling noted.
Paul Giamatti is one of the most versatile actors of his generation, and his body of work comes to life with a diverse roster of finely etched, award-winning, and critically acclaimed performances across film and television. Giamatti currently stars in Focus Features’ heartwarming period drama, The Holdovers. He has received several accolades for his moving performance, including the Golden Globe® Award for Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical, the Critics Choice Award and the National Board of Review Award for Best Actor, The Palm Springs International Film Festival “Icon Award”, and was recently nominated for the SAG, BAFTA and Academy Award ® for Best Actor.
Giamatti can also be seen in the second season of HBO Europe’s hit Spanish-horror series, 30 Coins, as well as in the final season of the Showtime hit, Billions, for which he has been nominated for a Broadcast Film Critics Association Award and a Critics Choice Award for “Best Actor in a Drama Series” over the course of the series.
Outside of acting, Giamatti co-hosts the podcast Chinwag with author and philosopher Stephen Asma from Treefort Media & Touchy Feely Films. Featuring prominent guests from diverse fields, Chinwag is a series of conversations that delve deep into the wilderness of the mind, covering topics spanning from science and philosophy to the occult and literature.
The Cinema Vanguard Award recognizes actors who have forged their own path, taking artistic risks and making a significant and unique contribution to film. Previous honorees include Colin Farrell & Brendan Gleeson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Carey Mulligan, Laura Dern, Michael B. Jordan, Willem DaFoe, Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Rooney Mara, Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones, Martin Scorsese, Leonardo DiCaprio, Amy Adams, Jean Dujardin, Bernice Bejo, Nicole Kidman, Peter Sarsgaard, Christoph Waltz, Vera Farmiga, Kristin Scott Thomas, Stanley Tucci and Ryan Gosling.
The 39th Santa Barbara International Film Festival will take place LIVE February 7 - February 17, 2024. Official events including screenings, filmmaker Q&As, industry panels, and celebrity tributes, will be held throughout the city, including at the historic Arlington Theatre. Passes for the 2024 Festival are on sale now at sbiff.org.
A-list and industry guests will once again ascend to Santa Barbara, making it a must-stop location on the awards circuit, and delivering a record number of films with many World and U.S. premieres. The 39th festival will open with the World Premiere of Disney’s MADU and it will close with the World Premiere of CHOSEN FAMILY directed by Heather Graham starring Julia Stiles, Heather Graham, Andrea Savage, Thomas Lennon. The festival will debut 45 World Premiere and 77 U.S. Premieres from 48 countries. Film lineup and full festival schedule can be found on sbiff.org.
About The Holdovers
From acclaimed director Alexander Payne, THE HOLDOVERS follows a curmudgeonly instructor (Paul Giamatti) at a New England prep school who is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually he forms an unlikely bond with one of them -- a damaged, brainy troublemaker (newcomer Dominic Sessa) -- and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam (Da’Vine Joy Randolph). The film was recently nominated for five Academy Awards ® and seven BAFTAs, in addition to being recognized as one of the top films of the year by critics groups across the country.
