The Parker Palm Springs, with its candied-colored hues of yellow and orange, was the place to be seen Tuesday morning at the Creative Impact Awards luncheon feting the 20th anniversary of Variety\u2019s 10 Directors to Watch.
Among the celebrities at the Bellini-soaked brunch, thrown in tandem with the 28th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival , were \u201cHidden Figures\u201d and \u201cMoonlight\u201d actress Janelle Monae; \u201cCaptain Fantastic\u201d star and Creative Impact in Acting Award recipient Viggo Mortensen ; Pharrell Williams , honored with the Creative Impact in Producing Award for shepherding \u201cHidden\u201d figures to the big screen; and \u201cLoving\u201d helmer Jeff Nichols, recipient of the Creative Impact in Directing Award.
\u201cGlee\u201d star and comedian Jane Lynch introduced Variety\u2019s Vice President and Executive Editor Steven Gaydos, who created the 10 to Watch list as a means by which to earmark talented artists on the rise in Hollywood. Directors who previously made the list include Wes Anderson, Andrea Arnold, and Tom Ford.
\u201cPalm Springs is just such an awesome great festival,\u201d said Gaydos. \u201cIt feels like my neighborhood party.\u201d
Gaydos gave special thanks to PSIFF chairman of the board Harold Matzer, the myriad local artists of Palm Springs, and world renowned glass sculptor Dale Chihuly, who designed the awards for Variety honorees.
Variety Chief Film Critic Peter Debruge introduced the 10 Directors to Watch by way of expressing his deep gratitude for his tenure at the trade.
\u201cI have one of the best jobs in the world as the chief film critic of Variety,\u201d said Debruge. \u201cWe are champions first and foremost. Why we sit through the terrible [movies] is to get through to the great ones.\u201d
The directors of those chosen \u201cgreat ones\u201d \u2014 a mix of documentaries, narrative features and genre films \u2014 are Maren Ade (\u201cToni Erdmann\u201d); Ritesh Batra (\u201cThe Sense of an Ending\u201d); Otto Bell (\u201cThe Eagle Huntress\u201d); Julia Ducournau (\u201cRaw\u201d); Geremy Jasper (\u201cPatti Cake$\u201d); Barry Jenkins (\u201cMoonlight\u201d); brothers Emmett and Brendan Malloy (\u201cTribes of Palos Verdes\u201d); Kleber Mendonca Filho (\u201cAquarius\u201d); William Oldroyd (\u201cLady Macbeth\u201d); and David Sandberg (\u201cLights Out\u201d).
Batra, Bell, the Malloys, Filho, and Sandberg were all at the brunch to accept their awards.
\u201cCaptain Fantastic\u201d writer-director Matt Ross \u2014 a 2015 alumnus of Variety\u2019s 10 Director to Watch list \u2014 was on hand to introduce Mortensen, fresh off a plane from Madrid, Spain, despite feeling slightly under the weather. (\u201cNow you\u2019re sick, too,\u201d joked Mortensen after hugging Ross.)
Regarding his lead turn as an unconventional father raising his six kids in the wild after their mother\u2019s suicide, Ross called Mortensen \u201cselfless and brave, and a collaborative artist that cares about the things that really matter.\u201d He also touted Mortensen as a modern-day Renaissance man: \u201cHe\u2019s frighteningly well-read, and a father, a photographer, an artist, a painter.\u201d
To further illustrate how committed Mortensen was to the role, Ross revealed that the Oscar-nominated actor camped out in a teepee and grew his own vegetable garden prior to the film\u2019s shoot.
\u201cHe has made one of the best movies of this year,\u201d said Mortensen in turn. \u201cIt\u2019s a movie that\u2019s prompted [audiences] to laugh, to cry in some cases, and most importantly, to think. I thank you Matt Ross for \u2018Captain Fantastic.\u2019\u201d
When introducing Nichols, Negga, in a stunning sequined pencil skirt, gushed, \u201cHe is one of the masterful storytellers of our time. His films glow with humanity.\u201d
Nichols, whose latest film chronicles the landmark 1967 Supreme Court case making interracial marriage legal in the United States, spoke of wanting \u201cto make films that affected people.\u201d
While \u201cLoving\u201d depicts a watershed moment in American legal history and the beginning of the civil rights movement, Nichols says he was inspired and influenced to direct the film because of the \u201cgreat true love\u201d between Mildred and Richard Loving.
\u201cI saw that true love in my grandparents and my parents and I try to see that in my own marriage,\u201d said Nichols.
Up next, Monae and \u201cHidden Figures\u201d co-star Jim Parsons introduced Williams, with Monae hailing the producer-songwriter-composer-singer as \u201ca visionary, a Renaissance man, a man who has done it all. He truly does believe women are the future. We are \u2018femme-ing\u2019 the future.\u201d
Williams, humbled and nervous, took the stage, brimming with gratitude for everyone who helped in the creation of \u201cHidden Figures,\u201d including his producing partner Mimi Valdez, also in attendance.
\u201cEverybody\u2019s been so poetic today,\u201d said Williams. \u201cYou guys said the kindest things ever. Remember, all the motion in our film is powered by some brilliant human being. It\u2019s really been incredible. My heartbeat is doing 9o billion heartbeats per hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

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