The Newport Beach Film Festival will honor Academy Award-nominated actor Taraji P. Henson, Jack O’Connell, Mckenna Grace, Sosie Bacon and casting director Sarah Finn at a brunch Oct. 18, organizers announced.
The event will be held at Balboa Bay Resort alongside Variety’s 10 Actors to Watch. It will be filmed for broadcast and aired on PBS SoCal in January, during the key awards voting window.
The 27th annual festival runs Oct. 15-22 and will feature more than 100 feature films from around the world.
Brunch honorees
Henson, nominated for an Oscar for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” will receive the Artist of Distinction Award. She is known for “Hustle & Flow,” “Hidden Figures” and the TV series “Empire,” for which she won a Golden Globe. She made her Broadway debut this year in August Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.”
O’Connell, a BAFTA Rising Star Award winner, will receive the Outstanding Achievement in Acting Award. He stars as Larry Lamb opposite Guy Pearce in Danny Boyle’s “Ink,” about the rise of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. He also appeared in “Sinners” and “28 Years Later.”
Grace, the youngest-ever Emmy nominee in the guest actress category for “The Handmaid’s Tale,” will receive the Spotlight Award. She plays Maysilee Donner in “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping,” which opens in theaters Nov. 20.
Bacon will receive the Breakout Award. She is known for “Smile,” “13 Reasons Why” and “Mare of Easttown,” and she co-stars in and helped produce the comedy thriller “Family Movie” with her parents, Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, and her brother, Travis Bacon.
Finn will receive the Casting Visionary Award. She has cast more than 150 features, including much of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and “Black Panther.” She most recently reunited with director Martin McDonagh on “Wild Horse Nine,” which opens in November.
The brunch will also recognize the previously announced Variety 10 Actors to Watch: Esmé Creed-Miles, Mariana Di Girólamo, Rosalind Eleazar, Guitarricadelafuente, Summer H. Howell, Jaafar Jackson, Ruth Madeley, Inde Navarrette, Ray Nicholson and Joseph Zada.
Additional honors
Other honorees will be recognized at separate events during the festival:
Saturday, Oct. 17: KJ Apa, best known as Archie on “Riverdale,” will receive the Spotlight Award at a screening of “Jimmy,” in which he plays James Stewart. The film opens in theaters Nov. 6.
Monday, Oct. 19: Justin Hartley, star and executive producer of CBS’ “Tracker” and a former star of NBC’s “This Is Us,” will receive the Artist of Distinction Award at a special Sunset Series event.
Monday, Oct. 19: Director and writer Jonás Cuarón, a co-writer of “Gravity” and director of “Desierto,” will receive the Artist of Distinction Award at a screening of “Campeón Gabacho.”
Tuesday, Oct. 20: Gemma Chan will receive the Outstanding Achievement in Acting Award at a screening of “Josephine.” The film, in which she stars opposite Channing Tatum, won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
Opening and closing nights
The festival will open with “Frampton,” a documentary about rock guitarist Peter Frampton, followed by a live question-and-answer session with Frampton and director Rob Arthur. The film traces his rise in the 1970s and his career comeback. It also covers his diagnosis with Inclusion Body Myositis, a disease that threatens his ability to play guitar.
“Unleashed Spirits: The Rise of the Hollywood Vampires” will close the festival with its West Coast premiere at 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, at the Lido Theater. Director Daniel E. Catullo III, executive producer Paul Geary and members of the band are scheduled to attend. The documentary follows the supergroup, which grew out of a secret 1970s drinking club led by Alice Cooper. Its members include Cooper, Johnny Depp, Joe Perry and Tommy Henriksen.
Previously announced highlights include the closing night film “Behemoth!” and centerpiece films “A Talent for Murder,” “Ink,” “Josephine,” “La Bola Negra,” “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York,” “Paper Tiger” and “Wild Horse Nine.”
The festival draws more than 50,000 attendees to Orange County and bills itself as the largest international cinema event in coastal Southern California. It also hosts nightly parties and events with more than 60 culinary partners.
For the full schedule and tickets, visit newportbeachfilmfest.com.