The Key West Film Festival has announced the recipient of its annual Golden Key Awards, including two new awards honoring Emerging Talent and Breakthrough Florida director.
This year’s Golden Key Award for Excellence in Filmmaking goes to Sean Baker, director of Red Rocket, opening nationwide in December via A24. Baker will attend in person and participate in a discussion with Carlos Aguilar, film critic for the Los Angeles Times, The Wrap, and RogerEbert.com, following the film’s screening. Baker’s film Starlet was featured in the first edition of the Key West Film Festival in 2012.
The inaugural Golden Key for Emerging Talent, given to actors who will be destined to grace our screens for years to come, will be presented to Kodi Smit-McPhee for his breakout role in the Netflix release of Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog, which will screen at the festival just as it begins its national theatrical release. Aguilar will host a pre-recorded discussion with Smit-McPhee following the screening, which will serve as the Closing Night film. Smit-McPhee stars alongside Benedict Cumberbatch, Jesse Plemons, and Kirsten Dunst in the film.
Another inaugural award- the Golden Key for Breakthrough Florida director, recognizing a Florida bred director whose films will be seen widely in the future – will be given to Clint Bentley. A Florida native, Bentley’s Jockey, starring Clifton Collins Jr, will be released by Sony Pictures Classics later this year. The award will be presented by former ESPN anchor Bob Ley following a screening of the film.
Honoring creativity, diversity, sustainability, and beauty, the Key West Film Festival is an annual celebration of film and filmmakers set to take place November 17-21, 2021.
A diverse, entertaining and artistically rigorous selection of films will be represented through a broad array of categories that offer opportunities for filmmakers, both aspiring and established, to commune and exchange ideas while showing their work to audiences in a historic and artistically vibrant tropical paradise.
For more information, visit our website: https://kwfilmfest.com
Twitter – @keywestfilmfest
Instagram – @keywestfilmfestival
Facebook – Key West Film Festival
#kwff #kwff2021 #tropiccinema
Main image RED ROCKET Photo 1 (Credit: A24)
Images: Sean Baker (Credit: Daniel Bergeron) and Kodi Smit-McPhee
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