Palm Springs, CA (November 20, 2023) – The Palm Springs International Film Awards  has announced that Da’Vine Joy Randolph is the recipient of the Breakthrough  Performance Award, for The Holdovers. 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 The Holdovers, Da’Vine Joy Randolph brings not only her significant comedic talents  to the table, but also extremely moving emotional depth to her portrayal of Barton Academy head cook Mary Lamb, who is grieving the recent loss of her son,” said Festival Chairman Nachhattar Singh Chandi. "It is our honor to present the Breakthrough  Performance Award, to this talented actress in celebration of her outstanding work and recognizing her emerging talent.” 

Randolph joins this year’s previously announced honorees Emma Stone (Desert Palm  Achievement Award, Actress), Cillian Murphy (Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor) and Killers of the Flower Moon (Vanguard Award). Past winners of the Breakthrough  Performance Award include last year’s recipient Danielle Deadwyler (Till) along with Mary  J. Blige (Mudbound), Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose), Andra Day (The United States v  Billie Holiday), Cynthia Erivo (Harriet), Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls), Felicity Huffman (Transamerica), Brie Larson (Room), Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave) and Rosamund  Pike (Gone Girl). In the years they were honored, Cotillard, Hudson, Larson, and Nyong'o went on to receive Academy Awards, while Day, Blige, Erivo, Huffman and Pike received  nominations. 

From acclaimed director Alexander Payne, Focus Feature’s The Holdovers follows a curmudgeonly instructor (Paul Giamatti) at a New England prep school who is forced to  remain on campus during the holiday 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). 

Da’Vine Joy Randolph is a Tony Award-nominated actress, known for her captivating performances which brim with dignity. In 2019, she seized the industry's attention with her  scene-stealing role as Lady Reed opposite Eddie Murphy in Netflix’s Dolemite Is My  Name, which earned her an NAACP Image Award nomination in the category of Best 

Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture. Currently, Randolph can be seen in Paramount  Players’ adaptation of Angie Thomas’ New York Times bestseller, On the Come Up, opposite Method Man and Mike Epps. Most recently, Randolph starred in HBO’s The Idol alongside The Weeknd. Additionally, she reprised her role as Detective Williams in the third season of Only Murders in the Building on Hulu. Her other credits include The Lost  City, The Last OG, The Guilty, Lee Daniel’s The United States v Billie Holiday, High  Fidelity. Kajillionaire and The Last Shift.  

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