Palm Springs International Film Festival (sometimes stylized shortly as PSIFF) is a film festival held in Palm Springs, California. Originally promoted by Mayor Sonny Bono and then sponsored by Nortel,[1]: 198 it started in 1989 and is held annually in January. It is run by the Palm Springs International Film Society, which also runs the Palm Springs International Festival of Short Films (ShortFest), a festival of short films and film market in June.
Though the festival does feature American independent films, the focus from its inception was to shine a spotlight on international cinema.[2]
The festival was cancelled in both 2021 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in California. It was held from January 6 to January 16 in 2023. The 34th edition screened 134 films from 64 countries including 27 premieres. Film Awards ceremony on January 5 at the Palm Springs Convention Center started the celebrations.[3][4]
Michael Barker, co-president of Sony Pictures Classics, described the festival as a good place to show foreign-language movies and heralded this festival's ability to spread good word-of-mouth for movies. The event is noted for screening most foreign Oscar nominees. In 2013, the festival screened 42 of the 71 movies that were submitted by countries around the world to the Oscars for that year's foreign language film prize.[2]
In the days before the festival's opening, several of the foreign filmmakers convene at Sunnylands, the Annenberg estate in Rancho Mirage, to trade strategies on funding, producing and promoting their movies.[5]
The Gala awards are Sonny Bono Visionary Award, Career Achievement Award, Desert Palm Achievement Award, Director of the Year Award, Frederick Loewe Award for Film Composing, Icon Award, Chairman's Award, Ensemble Performance Award and Spotlight Award.[12]
^Matzner, Harold; Lewis-Woodson, Rhea; Rodriguez, Lili. "Film Festival 2021 Update". psfilmfest.org. Palm Springs International Film Society. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
