The second annual Sunscreen Film Festival West honored the work of actor Joe Morton with its Lifetime Achievement Award Saturday evening, October 11, as part of the festival's awards presentation. The South Bay festival took place in Hermosa Beach October 10-12, with more than 100 films competing in the following categories: Narrative Feature, Documentary Feature, Animated Short, Documentary Short, Experimental Short & Music Video, and Narrative Short. Special festival support was provided by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Co-founders Robert Enriquez and Tony Armer handed out the awards, and presented Joe Morton to the audience with a laudatory introduction penned by director John Sayles. "I'd like to dedicate this award to my teachers at Hofstra University who taught me to make choices," said Morton upon receiving the award. "The fact that you guys have decided to honor and celebrate those choices is incredibly humbling and enormously gratifying. This has been an amazing year which started with the NAACP Image Award, the Critic's Choice nomination, an Emmy, and now this Lifetime Achievement Award ... this wonderful, incredible gift." "Joe Morton's career personifies a dedication to excellence in his craft that is all too rare today, and we wanted to recognize not only his talent, but also the hard work and perseverance that goes into a career like his," said festival co-founder Tony Armer. Added festival co-founder Enriquez, "With so many wonderful films submitted in competition this year, we were very pleased to recognize some really great work here. It was especially gratifying when it was announced at the awards ceremony that 'Hoovey' had been picked up for distribution by Echolight Studios, and will be in theaters early next year. That is something every film festival hopes for, and we were extremely happy to see it happen here." This year's festival roster included films in all categories featuring a "Who's Who" of top-notch onscreen, directing and producing talent, including: Sean Penn, Ed Asner, Christopher Lloyd, Cathy Moriarty, Russell Brand, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Gael Garcia Bernal, William Devane, Tommy Chong, Howie Mandel, Sally Field, Cliff Robertson, Gregory Harrison, Raul Esparza, Vanessa Williams, James Darren, Sean Stone and Alysia Reiner, plus many others. Throughout the weekend, there were compelling workshops on important aspects of the business, including: specialty acting for action/adventure films; screenwriting for film and for television; film and television directing; music sourcing and licensing; acting; talent representation; how to get your film made, and film distribution. The festival also featured a writing pitch session during which participants had the opportunity to pitch a panel of industry professionals led by Mitchell Bell, Marvel Studios' Vice President of Physical Production. |
