Vanessa McMahon

The 26th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) presents Rosamund Pike with the Breakthrough Performance Award, Actress at its annual Awards Gala. The Gala also presented awards to previously announced honorees Julianne Moore, Eddie Redmayne and J.K. Simmons. Presented by Cartier, and hosted by Mary Hart, the Awards Gala will be held Saturday, January 3 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The Festival runs January 2-12.

“Rosamund Pike perfectly taps into Gillian Flynn’s complex character from the novel “Gone Girl” bringing to life the privileged, manipulative and calculating Amy Dunne. It’s hard to imagine anyone else in the role,” said Film Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “For this outstanding performance it is an honor to present her with the 2015 Breakthrough Performance Award, Actress.”

Past recipients of the Breakthrough Performance Award include Marion Cotillard, Lupita Nyong’o, Carey Mulligan, Felicity Huffman, Jennifer Hudson and Jeremy Renner. In the years they were honored, Cotillard, Hudson and Nyong’o went on to receive Academy Awards®, while Huffman and Renner received nominations.

From the tour de force thriller that became a bestselling must-read comes David Fincher’s screen version of Gone Girl, a wild ride through our modern media culture and down into the deep, dark fault lines of an American marriage – in all its unreliable promises, inescapable deceits and pitch-black comedy. The screenplay is by Gillian Flynn based upon her novel. The Twentieth Century Fox film stars Ben Affleck with Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris and Tyler Perry.

Rosamund Pike was nominated for a 2011 London Critics' Circle Award for "British Actress in a Supporting Role" for her role in Made in Dagenham. For Barney's Version Pike earned a 2011 London Critics' Circle Award for "British Actress of the Year" and a Genie Award nomination for best actress. Pike’s other film credits include An Education, The World's End, Jack Reacher, Wrath of the Titans, Johnny English Reborn, The Big Year, Women in Love, The Libertine, Pride and Prejudice, Fracture, Fugitive Pieces, Surrogates, Burning Palms, What We Did on Our Holiday, Hector and the Search for Happiness, A Long Way Down and Die Another Day.

Pike’s theater roles include “Gaslight,” Patrick Hamilton's Victorian thriller, at the Old Vic Theater, The Donmar Warehouse Production of “Madame de Sade” in The West End, The Royal Court Theatre production of “Hitchcock Blonde,” and the title role in “Hedda Gabler.” On television, Pike has been working on the upcoming re-invention of classic kids series “Thunderbirds Are Go!”

About The Palm Springs International Film Festival: The Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) is one of the largest film festivals in North America, welcoming 135,000 attendees last year for its lineup of new and celebrated international features and documentaries. The Festival is also known for its annual Black Tie Awards Gala, honoring the best achievements of the filmic year by a celebrated list of talents who, in recent years, have included Ben Affleck, Javier Bardem, Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Bradley Cooper, George Clooney, Daniel Day-Lewis, Leonardo DiCaprio, Clint Eastwood, Tom Hanks, Matthew McConaughey, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, David O. Russell, Meryl Streep, and Kate Winslet.

The Awards Gala of the 26th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival is presented by Cartier and sponsored by Mercedes Benz and Entertainment Tonight. The City of Palm Springs is the Title Sponsor of the Film Festival. Presenting Sponsors are Wells Fargo, The Desert Sun and Spencer’s. Major sponsors are Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, Wessman Development, Bank of America, Wintec, Regal Entertainment Group, Ignition Creative, Desert Regional Medical Center, Windermere Real Estate, Eisenhower Medical Center, Guthy-Renker, Integrated Wealth Management, VisitGreaterPalmSprings.com, Ocean Properties, Chihuly and Telefilm Canada.

-PSIFF Official Press Release-

Edited by Vanessa McMahon