Amy Adams to Receive SBFF’s Vanguard Award

As I usually attend the Santa Barbara Film Fest, I’m excited about this. Amy Adams plays a character, she says, is actually closer to her real personality than the usually plucky, upbeat characters she’s cast as. She joins Ann Dowd this year as the two most complex performers in the supporting actress race – their motivations are mysterious.  Adams, it’s just been announced, will receive the Cinema Vanguard Award this year at the SBIFF:

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival, presented by lynda.com,
is proud to present award winning actor Amy Adams with the Cinema Vanguard Award on
Thursday, January 31, 2013. She will be honored for her exceptional performance in this year’s
The Master with a tribute at the 28th edition of the Festival, which runs January 24 – February 3,
2013, it was announced today by SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling.

Adams, a three- time Academy Award® nominee and just awarded Best Supporting Actress
by the L.A. Film Critics Association, portrayed Peggy Dodd, the steely and educated wife
to a charismatic spiritual leader set in the 1950s in The Master. Peter Travers said of her
performance: “Adams deserves serious award attention for the subtle authority she brings to
this so-called dutiful wife. Peggy, the scariest true believer in the Cause, is barbed wire wearing
a smile. And Adams makes you feel her sting.”

Durling comments, “Amy Adams is one of the gutsiest and most gifted actors working
today.  She embodies what the Cinema Vanguard Award is all about, and after her performance
in THE MASTER – the time has come to recognize her talent and versatility.”

The Cinema Vanguard Award was created in recognition of an actor who has forged his/her
own path – taking artistic risks and making a significant and unique contribution to film.  Past
recipients include Jean Dujardin & Bérénice Bejo, Nicole Kidman, Peter Sarsgaard, Christoph
Waltz, Stanley Tucci, Vera Farmiga, Kristin Scott Thomas and Ryan Gosling.

In 2005 Adams’ performance of Ashley, the pregnant and childlike character in Junebug, earned
her first Academy Award and SAG Award Nominations.  Adams landed her major breakout
role in Disney’s Enchanted (2007) as Princess Giselle, where she captivated audiences with
her versatile range in singing and wide eyed expressions. She has consistently taken on a
vast array of characters showing her versatility as an actress.  Going from an aspiring writer,
amateur cook, and blogger in Julie and Julia (2009) to Sister James in Doubt (2008) reteaming
with Meryl Streep and then to David O. Russell’s, The Fighter (2010) opposite Mark Wahlberg
and Christian Bale as a tough, gritty bartender from Massachusetts who begins dating boxer
Micky Ward (Wahlberg), Adams makes one wonder what else she has in her acting arsenal
when she seduces the audience into believing each and every character.  She recently wrapped

production on the Untitled Spike Jonze project opposite Joaquin Phoenix and is soon to begin
production on the Untitled David O. Russell film reteaming with David O. Russell and Christian
Bale.  She is starring as Lois Lane in Man of Steel releasing in June 2013 and will soon begin
production on Janis Joplin, playing the title character.  Additionally, Adams has teamed with
Maven Pictures’ Trudie Styler and Celine Rattray to produce Object of Beauty, the film based on
the novel by Steve Martin.  She will also produce Ten Best Days of My Life with Shawn Levy for
Twentieth Century Fox

The festivities will take place at the historic Arlington Theatre on Thursday, January 31, 2013
with tickets available now and can be purchased through www.sbfilmfestival.org or by calling
805-963-0023. Festival Passes and Packages are still available and sold exclusively at
www.sbfilmfestival.org and 805-963-0023.

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival is dedicated to the art of filmmaking, which
seeks out and consequently offers a broad array of international and independent films,
with a commitment to diversity.   SBIFF, which attracts more than 70,000 visitors each year,
endeavors to enrich the community both culturally and economically by presenting eleven
days of films, tributes and symposiums, raising consciousness of film as an art form.  SBIFF
presents quality American and world independent films, Latin American and French sidebars
as well as documentary cinema within the beautiful setting of downtown Santa Barbara, a
premier tourist destination.  SBIFF continues its commitment to education through its 10-10-10
Student Filmmaking and Screenwriting Competitions, Field Trip to the Movies, presented by The
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and educational seminars.  For more information,
log onto www.sbfilmfestival.org.