Palm Springs, CA (December 1, 2023) – The Palm Springs International Film Awards has announced that Carey Mulligan is the recipient of the International Star Award, Actress, for her performance in Bradley Cooper’s Maestro. The Film Awards will take place on January 4, 2024, at the Palm Springs Convention Center, with the festival running through January 15, 2024. The event will be sponsored by Entertainment Tonight and IHG Hotels & Resorts.

“In this historical and personal examination of famed composer Leonard Bernstein, Carey Mulligan measures both ends of true love – its extraordinary heights and intense lows – conveying a striking role as Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein,” said Festival Chairman Nachhattar Singh Chandi. “For this performance and her remarkable stature in world cinema, we are honored to present the International Star Award, Actress to Carey Mulligan.”

Mulligan joins this year’s previously announced honorees Emma Stone (Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actress), Cillian Murphy (Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor), Da’Vine Joy Randolph (Breakthrough Performance Award), Greta Gerwig (Director of the Year), Jeffrey Wright (Career Achievement Award) and Killers of the Flower Moon (Vanguard Award). Past recipients of the International Star Award, Actress include Michelle Yeoh, Penélope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Helen Mirren, Saoirse Ronan and Charlize Theron. Last year’s recipient Michelle Yeoh went on to receive the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once, while Cruz (Parallel Mothers) and Ronan (Lady Bird) were both nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in their respective years.

Maestro is a towering and fearless love story chronicling the lifelong relationship between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein. A love letter to life and art, Maestro at its core is an emotionally epic portrayal of family and love. Alongside stars Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan, the Netflix film features performances from Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, Sarah Silverman, Josh Hamilton, Scott Ellis, Gideon Glick, Sam Nivola, Alexa Swinton, and Miriam Shor.

Carey Mulligan is an Academy Award®-nominated actress who first broke out in a starring role in the critically-acclaimed film An Education. The role garnered her the BAFTA Award for Best Actress and nominations for an Academy Award® and SAG Award. Mulligan was nominated for her second Oscar in the Lead Actress category for her performance in Emerald Fennell’s directorial debut Promising Young Woman. The role garnered awards from the Critics’ Choice Association, the Film Independent Spirit Awards, the National Board of Review, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and over 20 critics groups around the country.

Her other film credits include: She Said, Wildlife, Mudbound, Suffragette, Far from the Madding Crowd, The Dig, Inside Llweyn Davis, The Great Gatsby, Shame, Drive, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Never Let Me Go, Brothers, Public Enemies, The Greatest, And When Did You Last See Your Father? and Pride & Prejudice. Her television credits include Collateral, My Boy Jack, Doctor Who, Northanger Abbey, The Amazing Mrs. Pritchard, Waking the Dead, Miss Marple, Bleak House and Trial & Retribution. Her next project is Netflix’s Spaceman alongside Adam Sandler, a science fiction drama film based on Jaroslav Kalfař’s novel by the same name.

About the Palm Springs International Film Society

The Palm Springs International Film Society is a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit organization whose mission is to cultivate and promote the art and science of film through education and cross-cultural awareness. The Film Society produces the Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) and Film Awards every January and Palm Springs ShortFest in June. In addition to curating the best in international cinema, PSIFF’s Film Awards has come to be known as the first stop on the campaign trail for the Academy Awards®, and our Oscar®-qualifying ShortFest is the largest short film festival and market in North America. Our festivals, year-round member screenings and educational programs manifest our organization’s mission by nurturing and encouraging new filmmaking talent, honoring the great masters of world cinema, and expanding audience horizons.

Press Contacts:   

Scenario Communications 
PSIFF@scenariopr.com

Daniel Mansour 
Marketing Manager, Palm Springs International Film Society 
daniel@psfilmfest.org