Richard Gere to Receive the Chairman’s Award

The 24th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will present Richard Gere with the Chairman’s Award on January 5 at the Awards Gala. Presented by Cartier, the Awards Gala will be held at the Palm Springs Convention Center. Hosted by Mary Hart, the Gala will also present awards to previously announced honorees the cast of Argo, Bradley Cooper, Sally Field, Helen Hunt, Helen Mirren, Naomi Watts and Robert Zemeckis. The Festival runs January 3-14.
“Throughout his career Richard Gere has established himself as an accomplished actor and producer and yet still finds time to support crucial cultural and humanitarian causes,” said Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “Over the years we’ve seen Mr. Gere in many memorable roles, however with Arbitrage, he turns in one of his strongest career performances to date, bringing to life a hedge-fund magnate whose world is upended amid personal and professional turmoil that threatens to spiral wildly out of his control. To this star of many talents the Palm Springs International Film Festival is proud to present the 2012 Chairman’s Award to Richard Gere.” Past recipients of the Chairman’s Award include Ben Affleck, George Clooney, Dustin Hoffman and Nicole Kidman.
Richard Gere stars in Arbitrage from Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions. Gere plays New York hedge-fund magnate Robert Miller, who on the eve of his 60th birthday is desperate to complete the sale of his trading empire and makes an error that forces him to turn to an unlikely person for help. The film is written and directed by Nicholas Jarecki and stars Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, Tim Roth, Brit Marling, Laetitia Casta and Nate Parker. For Arbitrage, Gere received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama.
Richard Gere is known for his diversity of roles, from his Golden Globe winning performance in Chicago to the critically acclaimed Pretty Women, An Officer and a Gentleman, American Gigolo, and Primal Fear. His other film credits include Amelia, Brooklyn’s Finest, Nights in Rodanthe, I’m Not There, The Hoax, The Hunting Party, Shall We Dance, Bee Season, Unfaithful, The Mothman Prophecies, Looking Mr. Goodbar, Blood Brothers, Breathless, Beyond the Limit, The Cotton Club, Power, No Mercy, Yanks, Looking, Miles From Home, Internal Affairs, Runaway Bride and Dr. T and the Women. Gere’s motion picture debut was the Oscar-honored Days of Heaven, for which he received the Italian equivalent of the Academy Award.