The 35th Santa Barbara Intl. Film Festival will honor Awkwafina, Taron Egerton, Florence Pugh and Taylor Russell with Virtuoso Awards on Saturday, Jan. 18. The quartet mark the first wave of recipients of honorees at the festival.
The four actors are being saluted for their 2019 work, including “The Farewell,” “Rocketman,” “Midsommar,” and “Waves,” respectively. The festival will announce other honorees shortly.
The 35th Santa Barbara Fest will run Jan. 15-25, 2020. Roger Durling is executive director.
Virtuoso Awards presented by UGG, salute “a select group of talent whose noteworthy performances in film have elevated them into the national cinematic dialogue,” according to the fest.
The Virtuoso Awards feature a Q&A, moderated for the 10th year by Turner Classic Movies host and IMDb special correspondent host Dave Karger. The tribute will take place at the Arlington Theatre.
“Awkwafina, Taron, Florence, and Taylor are four of the most exciting rising talents and they’re all breaking through in a major way this year,” Karger said. “I can’t wait to see all of them, plus our yet-to-be-announced honorees, up in Santa Barbara.”
Last year’s recipients of the Virtuosos Award were Yalitza Aparicio, Sam Elliott, Elsie Fisher, Claire Foy, Richard E. Grant, Thomasin McKenzie, John David Washington, and Steven Yeun.