‘Barbie’ Songwriting Team Billie Eilish, Finneas O’Connell To Receive Chairman’s Award at Palm Springs International Film Awards

The Palm Springs International Film Awards has announced that Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell are the recipients of the Chairman’s Award for their critically acclaimed song “What Was I Made For?” from Greta Gerwig’s acclaimed, record-breaking film Barbie. The song has been nominated for five GRAMMY® Awards and received Best Original Song Golden Globe and Critics Choice Awards nominations. The Film Awards will take place on January 4, 2024, at the Palm Springs Convention Center, with the festival running through January 15, 2024. The event will be sponsored by Entertainment Tonight and IHG Hotels & Resorts.

“We are thrilled to present the prestigious Chairman’s Award to Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell for their celebrated original song ‘What Was I Made For?’ from Barbie,” said Festival Chairman Nachhattar Singh Chandi. “Billie and Finneas, with their unparalleled talent, have created a beautiful and ethereal ballad that perfectly evokes the poignancy of the journey Margot Robbie’s Barbie takes in the film. The Palm Springs International Film Festival proudly honors these visionary artists for their award-worthy musical contribution.”

Eilish and O’Connell join this year’s previously announced honorees, Carey Mulligan (International Star Award, Actress), Cillian Murphy (Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actor), Colman Domingo (Spotlight Award, Actor), Danielle Brooks (Spotlight Award, Actress), Da’Vine Joy Randolph (Breakthrough Performance Award), Emma Stone (Desert Palm Achievement Award, Actress), Greta Gerwig (Director of the Year), Jeffrey Wright (Career Achievement Award), and Killers of the Flower Moon (Vanguard Award). Past recipients of the Chairman’s Award include Amy Adams, Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, George Clooney, Matt Damon, Tom Hanks, Jennifer Hudson, Nicole Kidman, Regina King, Gary Oldman, Joaquin Phoenix, and Reese Witherspoon.

Billie Eilish released her sophomore album Happier Than Ever, which debuted at #1 in the Billboard 200 in the U.S. and in 19 countries across the globe. Since the release of her debut single “Ocean Eyes” in 2015, Eilish continues to shatter the ceiling of music with her genre-defying sound. Fast forward from her humble breakout, her album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? also debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in the U.S as well as in 17 additional countries around the world upon release in 2019 and was the most streamed album of that year. Both albums were critically acclaimed worldwide and were written, produced, and recorded entirely by Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O’Connell. Eilish has made history as the youngest artist to receive nominations and win in all the major categories at the 62nd GRAMMY® Awards, receiving an award for Best New Artist, Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Pop Vocal Album, and is also the youngest artist to write and record an official James Bond theme song, “No Time To Die,” which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song.  This summer, she completed her sold-out Happier Than Ever, The World Tour, and she is currently working on her third studio album.

Finneas O’Connell is an Academy Award®- and GRAMMY® Award-winning singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer. He introduced a heartfelt and hypnotic style on 2019’s debut Blood Harmony EP highlighted by the gold-certified “Let’s Fall in Love for the Night.” 2021 saw him unveil his full-length debut, The Optimist [Interscope Records]. He achieved stratospheric success for his work with his sister Billie Eilish, including eight GRAMMY® Awards, headline sets at Coachella and Glastonbury, and an Academy Award® and a Golden Globe® Award both in the category of Best Original Song for “No Time To Die” from the film No Time To Die—a song which he co-wrote and co-produced. His filmography boasts original scores for HBO Max’s award-winning The Fallout and BJ Novak’s Vengeance. In 2022, on behalf of the Disney PIXAR animated hit Turning Red, he and Billie wrote the music for the film’s boyband 4*Town.

About Barbie

To live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken. Warner Bros. Pictures Presents A Heyday Films Production, A LuckyChap Entertainment Production, An NB/GG Pictures Production, A Mattel Production, Barbie. Directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, and Will Ferrell, the film is written by Greta Gerwig & Noah Baumbach and produced by David Heyman, Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley and Robbie Brenner. The executive producers are Gerwig, Baumbach, Ynon Kreiz, Richard Dickson, Michael Sharp, Josey McNamara, Courtenay Valenti, Toby Emmerich and Cate Adams. Based on “Barbie” by Mattel. The film is distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures. Barbie has been recognized on the AFI Awards Movies of the Year list and National Board of Review top film list. The film also received nine Golden Globe nominations, including Best Picture – Musical or Comedy, Best Director and Best Motion Picture Screenplay, and a record-setting 18 Critics Choice Awards, including Best Picture.

About the Palm Springs International Film Society

The Palm Springs International Film Society is a 501(c)(3) charitable non-profit organization whose mission is to cultivate and promote the art and science of film through education and cross-cultural awareness. The Film Society produces the Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) and Film Awards every January and Palm Springs ShortFest in June. In addition to curating the best in international cinema, PSIFF’s Film Awards has come to be known as the first stop on the campaign trail for the Academy Awards®, and our Oscar®-qualifying ShortFest is the largest short film festival and market in North America. Our festivals, year-round member screenings and educational programs manifest our organization’s mission by nurturing and encouraging new filmmaking talent, honoring the great masters of world cinema, and expanding audience horizons.