Mar 27, 2012
Festival
The San Francisco Film Society announced today that David Webb Peoples will be the recipient of the 2012 Kanbar Award for excellence in screenwriting at the 55th San Francisco International Film Festival (April 19-May 3). The award will be presented to Peoples at Film Society Awards Night, Thursday, April 26 at the historic Warfield Theatre.
The Film Society and its highly regarded Youth Education program will be the beneficiary of the star-studded fundraiser honoring Peoples, Kenneth Branagh, the previously announced recipient of the Founder’s Directing Award, given to a master of world cinema and the soon-to-be-announced recipient of the Peter J. Owens Award for excellence in acting. Susie and Pat McBaine and Katie and Todd Traina are chairs of this year’s Film Society Awards Night gala, and Melanie and Larry Blum are the honorary chairs.
“The 2012 Kanbar Award honors the exceptional contributions of the man who wrote such classic films as Blade Runner, 12 Monkeys and Unforgiven,'” said Melanie Blum, the San Francisco Film Society’s interim executive director. “We’re pleased to honor David Webb Peoples, and in doing so acknowledge the indispensible artistic role that screenwriting plays in the creation of great films.”
Peoples will also be honored at An Afternoon with David Webb Peoples at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, Saturday, April 28, 12:00 pm. An onstage interview and a selection of clips from his notable screenwriting career will be followed by a screening of Unforgiven (dir. Clint Eastwood, USA 1992, 131 min.). In the town of Big Whiskey, Wyoming, a retired gunfighter (Clint Eastwood) arrives to collect a bounty put on two killers’ heads. Screenwriter David Webb Peoples fills the screen with finely wrought, memorable characters; leavens the brutality with humor; and spins a tale that as it builds to its inexorable climax, strips this elderly gunfighter of romantic and heroic trappings, revealing the all too human being beneath the legend. A modern Western with its roots deeply fixed in the ruggedly beautiful landscapes and the harsh realities of life and death in the American West, Unforgiven deservedly won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.
After getting his start in documentaries, editing Who Are the Debolts? And Where Did They Get 19 Kids? (dir. John Korty, USA 1977) and cowriting The Day After Trinity (dir. Jon Else, USA 1981), Peoples moved into narrative features with the unforgettable Blade Runner (dir. Ridley Scott, USA 1982), a modern sci-fi classic appearing on numerous “top films of all time” lists. His multilayered script forUnforgiven garnered an Oscar nomination while other efforts such as the fantasy-romance Ladyhawke (dir. Richard Donner, USA 1985) and the mind-bending thriller 12 Monkeys (dir. Terry Gilliam, USA 1996) have legions of devoted followers and exhibit his astonishing range of material. He also wrote and directed the cult action movie The Blood of Heroes (USA 1990) starring Joan Chen and Rutger Hauer.
The Award is named in honor of Maurice Kanbar, a longtime member of the board of directors of the Film Society, film commissioner and philanthropist with a particular interest in supporting independent filmmakers. Kanbar is the creator of New York’s first multiplex theater and, most recently, Blue Angel Vodka.
Previous recipients of the Kanbar Award are Frank Pierson (2011), James Schamus (2010), James Toback (2009), Robert Towne (2008), Peter Morgan (2007), Jean-Claude Carrière (2006) and Paul Haggis (2005).
For tickets and information for Film Society Awards Night only call 415-561-5049 or email menglish@sffs.org.
Tickets An Afternoon with David Webb Peoples $20 for SFFS members, $25 for the general public. Box office opens March 27 for SFFS members, March 30 for the general public, online at sffs.org and in person at SF Film Society Cinema (1746 Post Street, Webster/Buchanan). Festival Premier Package on sale March 27, visit festival.sffs.org for details
For tickets and more information visit festival.sffs.org.
To request interviews or screeners contact your SFIFF publicist.
For photos and press materials visit sffs.org/pressdownloads.
55th San Francisco International Film Festival
The 55th San Francisco International Film Festival runs April 19-May 3 at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, the Castro Theatre, SF Film Society Cinema and SFMOMA in San Francisco and the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley. Held each spring for 15 days, the International is an extraordinary showcase of cinematic discovery and innovation in one of the country’s most beautiful cities, featuring 200 films and live events, 14 juried awards and $70,000 in cash prizes, upwards of 100 participating filmmaker guests and diverse and engaged audiences with more than 70,000 people in attendance.