Richard Linklater”s direction on “Boyhood” has won Berlin”s Silver Bear, and honors from the San Sebastián, Seattle, and SXSW film festivals, Gotham and Indie Spirits Awards nominations, and special honors from the Casting Society of America. And yet, this is just the beginning. With Oscars on the horizon, Palm Springs International Film Festival has announced that Linklater will receive another year-end prize: Sonny Bono Visionary Award.
“Richard Linklater”s latest feature film is the critically acclaimed Boyhood, a one-of-a-kind epic undertaking shot over the course of 12 years with the same cast,” said festival chairman Harold Matzner in a statement. “For his creative innovations in filmmaking, The Palm Springs International Film Festival is proud to present Richard Linklater with the Sonny Bono Visionary Award.”
Linklater has two Oscar nominations to his name (Best Writing, Adapted for 2004″s “Before Sunset” and 2013″s “Before Midnight”) and seven Independent Spirit Award nominations (including Best First Feature for 1991″s “Slacker”). This is his first honor from the PSIFF and his first to be named after a famous variety-show-host-turned-politician (Bono was the mayor of Palm Springs from 1988 to 1992).
Linklater will join honorees Eddie Redmayne, Julianne Moore, Rosamund Pike, and J.K. Simmons at the awards ceremony on Jan. 5, 2015.
Previous recipients of the Sonny Bono Visionary Award include Danny Boyle, Michel Hazanavicius, Quentin Tarantino and the band U2.
Linklater is currently in production on his next feature, a baseball-themed spiritual sequel to “Dazed and Confused” titled, “That's What I'm Talking About.”