David O. Russell to be honored at the Hollywood Film Awards

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Sep 28, 2012, 11:30 ET

David O. Russell, director of "Silver Linings Playbook," to be feted with the "Hollywood Director Award"

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Sept. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The 16th Annual Hollywood Film Awards, presented by the Los Angeles Times, is pleased to announce that writer and director David O. Russell will receive the "Hollywood Director Award" at this year's gala.

"We are thrilled this year to honor director David O. Russell for his outstanding work and creative vision exemplified in his extraordinary new film, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK," said Carlos de Abreu, Founder and Executive Director of the Hollywood Film Awards.

The 2012 Hollywood Film Awards has also announced that it will honor Oscar-winning actor Robert De Niro with the "Hollywood Supporting Actor Award," Academy Award-winning actress Marion Cotillard with the "Hollywood Actress Award," producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner with the "Hollywood Producers Award," writer/director Judd Apatow with the "Hollywood Comedy Award," actor John Hawkes with the "Hollywood Breakout Performance Award" for "The Sessions," and Quvenzhane Wallis with the "New Hollywood Award" for "Beasts of the Southern Wild." Other honorees include cinematographer Wally Pfister and visual effects supervisors Janek Sirrs and Jeff White. In addition, director Peter Ramsey's "Rise of the Guardians" will be honored with the "Hollywood Animation Award," along with additional honorees to be announced in the coming weeks.

The Hollywood Film Awards Gala Ceremony will take place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills on October 22, 2012. The event honors cherished stars and up-and-coming talent, and traditionally kicks off the film awards season with the biggest stars and top industry executives in attendance.

"We are very proud to be the first stop of the awards season. In the last nine years, a total of 85 Oscar nominations and 32 Oscars were given to the honorees of the Hollywood Film Awards," said de Abreu.

Last year's awards show reached a total TV audience of more than 41 million media impressions, in addition to more than 300 million online and print readers' impressions. Aside from celebrating accomplishments on screen, the Hollywood Film Awards established the "Hollywood Gives Back" program to expand and continue highlighting and assisting important local and national charities to raise funds.

Over the years, the Hollywood Film Awards has contributed to such charities as the following: The Art of Elysium, Artists For Human Rights, Artists for Peace and Justice, MatchingDonors.com, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, the Enough Project, and Variety The Children's Charity of So. CA, among others. Further, the Hollywood Film Awards selects individuals to be recipients of their "Hollywood Humanitarian Awards" in recognition of their contribution to the betterment of their communities or society at large. Prior recipients include Nobel Peace Prize winner and ex-President of East Timor, Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta, Nobel Laureate Jody Williams, Father Rick Frechette, and actor and activist Sean Penn.

ABOUT DAVID O. RUSSELL
David O. Russell directed THE FIGHTER (2010), a film that earned seven Oscar nominations, including Best Achievement in Directing (Russell) and Best Motion Picture of the Year. Two of THE FIGHTER's stars -- Christian Bale and Melissa Leo -- won Academy Awards for their performances. Russell's prior films include THREE KINGS (1999), starring George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg and Ice Cube, which earned Russell a nomination from the Writers Guild of America for Best Screenplay, in addition to appearing on over 100 critics' top ten lists and being awarded the Boston Film Critics Society Film of the Year and Director of the Year. Russell's comedies I HEART HUCKABEES (2004) and FLIRTING WITH DISASTER (1996) appeared on many top ten lists. The first film Russell wrote and directed, SPANKING THE MONKEY, won the 1994 Sundance Film Festival's Audience Award and won Best First Feature and Best First Screenplay at the 1994 Independent Spirit Awards. Russell's latest film, SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK, received the BlackBerry People's Choice Award at the 37th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival. The film is an intense, loving, emotional and funny family story in which Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence find themselves partners in a secret arrangement to rebuild their lives that have fallen apart. Robert De Niro yearns to get closer to his son (Cooper), as he tries to keep the family afloat with his compulsive bookmaking. Jacki Weaver and Chris Tucker co-star.

In 2002, Russell joined the board of the Bronx's Ghetto Film School, then a brand-new, all-volunteer local summer project with a very small budget and no presence within the film industry. Russell changed all that immediately, getting his filmmaker friends, movie studios, and industry professionals not only to give money but also to lend their time to teach classes and support the growth of young black and Latino filmmakers from the South Bronx and Harlem. Today, GFS is New York's first public high school for cinema, an award-winning program model that has helped over 500 teenagers tell their stories.

ABOUT THE LOS ANGELES TIMES
The Los Angeles Times is the largest metropolitan daily newspaper in the country, with a daily readership of 1.6 million and 2.7 million on Sunday, more than 16 million unique latimes.com visitors monthly and a combined print and online local weekly audience of 4.4 million. The Pulitzer Prize-winning Times has been covering Southern California for more than 130 years. The Los Angeles Times Media Group (LATMG) businesses and affiliates include the Los Angeles Times, The Envelope, Times Community News and Hoy Los Angeles and reach approximately 5.2 million or 39% of all adults in the Southern California marketplace. LATMG also owns and operates California Community News, as well as Tribune Direct's west coast division and is part of Tribune Company, one of the country's leading media companies with businesses in publishing, the Internet and broadcasting. Additional information is available at http://latimes.com/aboutus.

ABOUT THE HOLLYWOOD FILM AWARDS
The Hollywood Film Awards were created to honor excellence in the art of filmmaking, both in front of and behind the camera, and launch the awards season. The criteria is: recipients are selected to be honored for their body of work and/or a film(s) that is to be released between January 1 and December 31 by an advisory team. In addition, for the recipients of our "film awards craft categories" (aside from evaluating their body of work), our Advisory team takes into consideration the recommendation of their guilds/societies. Last year alone, our recipients received 12 nominations and 5 Oscars. In the last 9 years, a total of 85 Oscar nominations and 32 Oscars were given to our honorees.

The Hollywood Film Awards are presented in conjunction with Presenting Sponsor the Los Angeles Times, Premier sponsors ArcLight Cinemas and Hollywoodnews.com, exclusive Regional Print Media sponsor Los Angeles Confidential and trade Media sponsor the Hollywood Reporter. Special support is provided by American Cinema Editors - A.C.E., American Society of Cinematographers - A.S.C., The Art Directors Guild - A.D.G., Celebrity Services, The Casting Society of America - CSA, Costume Designers Guild - CDG, Columbia Pictures, Creative Artists Agency, DreamWorks SKG, Entertainment Tonight, Focus Features, Fox Searchlight, ICM, ILM, Motion Picture Editors Guild, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Classics, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros., Walt Disney/Pixar, The Weinstein Company, WME. The Beverly Hilton Hotel is the Official Host Hotel and Getty Image is the Official Photography Agency.

http://www.hollywoodfilmawards.com

SOURCE Hollywood Film Awards