'Women Talking' director Sarah Polley to receive Director of the Year Award at Palm Springs film awards

Academy Award nominee Sarah Polley will receive the Director of the Year Award for her latest film, "Women Talking," at the Palm Springs International Film Awards.

The Film Awards will take place in person on Jan. 5 at the Palm Springs Convention Center, with the Palm Springs International Film Festival running through Jan. 16. The 2022 festival was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On top of directing "Women Talking," Polley wrote the script, which is based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Miriam Toews. The film centers on a group of women living in an isolated religious colony as they struggle to reconcile their faith after a series of sexual assaults committed by the colony's men are revealed. The film stars Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, Judith Ivey, Sheila McCarthy, Michelle McLeod, Kate Hallett, Liv McNeil, August Winter, Ben Whishaw and Frances McDormand.

“Sarah Polley continues her outstanding work as a writer and director in her latest film 'Women Talking.' She brings together a stellar cast in her adaptation of the Miriam Toews book, taking us on a cinematic journey filled with raw emotions and performances,” Festival Chairman Harold Matzner said in a statement. “It is our honor to present Sarah Polley with the Director of the Year Award.”

Polley received an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for her feature directorial debut, "Away From Her." The film also garnered a Best Actress nomination for star Julie Christie. Her second feature was "Take This Waltz" starring Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen and Sarah Silverman.

"Stories We Tell," her documentary that examines secrets and memories in her own family, won Best Documentary Film awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics Circle, as well as a Writer’s Guild of America award for its screenplay. Polley executive produced and wrote the Netflix limited series "Alias Grace," which she adapted from Margaret Atwood’s novel.

As an actor, her film credits include "The Sweet Hereafter" (Best Supporting Actress Award from the Boston Society of Film Critics), "Go" (Independent Spirit Award nomination), "Dawn of the Dead," "Mr. Nobody," "The Weight of Water, Existenz," "The Secret Life of Words," "My Life Without Me" (Best Actress from the Chlotrudis Awards), "Guinevere," "Don’t Come Knocking," "The Claim" and "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen."

In 2022, Polley released "Run Towards the Danger: Confrontations with a Body of Memory," an autobiographical collection of essays detailing her relationship with her body and how her memory of past and present experiences has contributed to her evolving understanding of self.

Past recipients of the Director of the Year Award include Jane Campion ("The Power of the Dog"), Alejandro G. Iñárritu ("Babel," "Birdman"), Steve Mc Queen ("12 Years a Slave"), Alexander Payne ("Sideways"), Jason Reitman ("Up in the Air"), David O. Russell ("The Fighter"), Quentin Tarantino ("Once Upon a Time in Hollywood") and Chloé Zhao ("Nomadland") who all went on to receive Best Director Academy Award nominations. Campion, Iñárritu and Zhao went on to receive the Academy Award for Best Director.

Polley joins the Film Awards' previously announced honoree Colin Farrell (Desert Palm Achievement, Actor).

Ema Sasic covers entertainment and health in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at ema.sasic@desertsun.com or on Twitter @ema_sasic.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Sarah Polley to receive directing award at Palm Springs film festival