George Clooney to be Honored at Hollywood Film Festival's Awards Gala Ceremony

George Clooney to be Honored at Hollywood Film Festival's Awards Gala Ceremony

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Oct. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The 15th annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Film Awards, presented by Starz Entertainment, have announced that Oscar winner George Clooney will be honored with the "Hollywood Actor Award" for his critically acclaimed performance in Alexander Payne's "The Descendants."

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Clooney will be recognized at the festival's Hollywood Film Awards Gala Ceremony, which is scheduled to take place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills on October 24, 2011.

"George Clooney delivered a flawless and passionate performance in Alexander Payne's human drama, 'The Descendants.' Clooney continues to shine as one of Hollywood's most gifted actors. We're delighted to honor him at this year's Hollywood Film Awards," said Mr. Carlos de Abreu, Hollywood Film Festival Founder and Executive Director.

THE DESCENDANTS: From Alexander Payne, the creator of the Oscar-winning "Sideways," set in Hawaii, "The Descendants" is a sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic journey for Matt King (George Clooney), an indifferent husband and father of two girls, who is forced to re-examine his past and embrace his future when his wife suffers a boating accident off of Waikiki. The event leads to a rapprochement with his young daughters while Matt wrestles with a decision to sell the family's land that was handed down from Hawaiian royalty and missionaries.

ABOUT GEORGE CLOONEY:
George Clooney is recognized as much for his global humanitarian efforts as he is for his accomplishments in the entertainment industry.

Clooney has won an Oscar (Best Supporting Actor, "Syriana"), two Golden Globes (Best Supporting Actor, "Syriana" & Best Performance by an Actor in a Comedy, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"), and received four Oscar nominations (Best Director & Best Original Screenplay, "Good Night, and Good Luck"; Best Actor, "Michael Clayton" and "Up In the Air").

Clooney stars in Fox Searchlight's "The Descendants," directed by Alexander Payne. The film premiered at the 2011 Toronto Film Festival, screened at the 2011 Telluride Film Festival, and will be the closing night film at the New York Film Festival.

Clooney's other acting credits include "Up in the Air," "Michael Clayton," "Fantastic Mr. Fox," "Out of Sight," "Batman & Robin," "One Fine Day," "From Dusk 'Til Dawn," "Burn After Reading," "Intolerable Cruelty," and "Oceans 11-3."

Clooney co-starred, co-wrote, and directed Sony's political thriller "The Ides of March," which was the opening night film at the 2011 Venice Film Festival and which also screened at the 2011 Toronto Film Festival. The film was produced by Clooney's Smokehouse Productions. Other Smokehouse films include "The American," "The Men Who Stare at Goats," and the upcoming "Argo."

Clooney made his directorial debut in 2002 with "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," winning the Special Achievement in Film Award from the National Board of Review. In 2006, he received Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Screenplay for "Good Night, and Good Luck." That same year Clooney received his Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for "Syriana." It was the first time in Academy history that an individual had received acting and directing nominations for two different films in the same year. Two years later, Clooney directed "Leatherheads," a Smokehouse production.

Among the many honors Clooney received was the 2007 Peace Summit Award, given at the eighth World Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates. In 2008, Clooney was designated a U.N. Messenger of Peace.

In January 2010, Clooney co-produced the "Hope for Haiti Now!" telethon, which raised more than $66 million, setting a new record for donations made by the public through a disaster-relief telethon. In 2010 Clooney received the Robert F. Kennedy Ripple of Hope Award for his dedication to humanitarian efforts in Sudan and Haiti. In December of 2010, Clooney - along with the United Nations, Harvard University and Google - launched "The Satellite Sentinel Project," an effort to monitor human-rights violations between Southern and Northern Sudan.

The Hollywood Awards Gala launches the awards season. In the past eight years a total of 73 Oscar nominations and 27 Oscars were given to the honorees of the Hollywood Awards.

The 2011 Hollywood Film Festival has also announced that they will honor five-time Oscar nominee Glenn Close with the "Hollywood Career Achievement Award," Academy Award-nominated actress Michelle Williams with the "Hollywood Actress Award" for "My Week with Marilyn," Academy Award-nominated actor Christopher Plummer with the "Hollywood Supporting Actor Award" for "Beginners," Academy Award-nominated actress Carey Mulligan with the "Hollywood Supporting Actress Award" for "Shame," actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt with the "Hollywood Breakthrough Actor Award" for "50/50," and actress Felicity Jones with the "New Hollywood Award" for "Like Crazy." Other honorees include the cast of "The Help" (Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Allison Janney, Chris Lowell, Ahna O'Reilly, Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone, Sissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen, Cicely Tyson, and Mike Vogel). Also, Berenice Bejo, Jean Dujardin, Elle Fanning, Amber Heard, Andrea Riseborough, Shailene Woodley and Anton Yelchin will receive the "Hollywood Spotlight Awards," Director Michel Hazanavicius, Producer Letty Aronson, Screenwriter Diablo Cody, Film Composer Alberto Iglesias, Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, Editor Stephen Mirrione, Production Designer James Murakami, and Visual Effects Supervisor Scott Farrar will be honored at their annual Awards Gala. In addition, Gore Verbinski's "Rango" will be recognized at the Hollywood Film Awards Gala Ceremony.

About Starz Entertainment, LLC:
The festival and awards presenter is Starz Entertainment, LLC, a premium movie and original programming entertainment service provider operating in the United States. The company offers 17 premium channels including the flagship STARZ® and ENCORE® brands with approximately 19 million and 32.9 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment airs in total more than 1,000 movies and original series every month across its pay TV channels. Starz Entertainment is recognized as a pay TV leader in providing HD, On Demand, HD On Demand and online advanced services for its STARZ, ENCORE and MOVIEPLEX brands. Starz Entertainment (www.starz.com) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, which is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation and is attributed to the Liberty Starz tracking stock group (NASDAQ: LSTZA).

For more information please go to www.HollywoodFestival.com.

SOURCE Hollywood Film Festival

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Hollywood Film Festival

CONTACT: Festival Contact: +1-310-288-1882, Hollywood Film Festival®, 433 N. Camden Drive, Suite 600, Beverly Hills, CA 90210

Web Site: http://www.HollywoodFestival.com

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