The King Vidor Award presentation has been a tradition ever since the first SLO Film Fest began in 1994, when director George Sidney was presented with the first award for Excellence in Filmmaking from Mary Harris. And so began the annual tradition of awarding a successful motion picture industry personality with the prestigious award on the stage of the beautiful Fremont Theatre in downtown San Luis Obispo. 

This year, our Festival was stopped before it could start, and the highly anticipated awards night honoring talented screenwriter/director/producer Lawrence Kasdan was cancelled. He was a very unique honoree this year too. He not only has the kind of impressive and prolific career that King Vidor did, but he continues to push the envelope and delve into new genres. Kasdan and his wife Meg would have also been attending as festival filmmakers for their screenings of a brand new documentary they had directed and produced, called LAST WEEK AT ED’S. 

They were as disappointed as we were that they could not be here but we do hope to have them attend next year, along with the wonderful Ben Mankiewicz who was looking forward to chatting with him after the award presentation.

Meanwhile, we are delighted to share Lawrence Kasdan’s acceptance speech, delivered straight to us from his lush backyard in Los Angeles! Congratulations from all of us at the SLO Film Fest!