The Santa Barbara International Film Festival announced Thursday the 2023 recipients for its Virtuosos Awards, recognizing four performances from notable up-and-comers that are sure to gain awards traction all winter.
This year’s honorees are Lily Gladstone for Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” Greta Lee for Celine Song’s “Past Lives,” Charles Melton for Todd Haynes’ “May December” and Da’Vine Joy Randolph for Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers.”
This quartet has been buzzed about for months since the earliest of the year’s film festivals, and all have an excellent shot at Oscar nominations in January. All four recently received performance nominations at this year’s Gotham Awards — however, Gladstone’s will be for her small indie release “The Unknown Country,” as “Killers” was not entered for consideration at the Gothams.
The ceremony will again be moderated by TCM host Dave Karger, whose new book “50 Oscar Nights: Iconic Stars and Filmmakers on Their Career-Defining Wins” will be released on Jan. 23, the day of Oscar nominations.
“Our first four Virtuosos honorees are among the most interesting and exciting performers working today, and they all play unforgettable roles in some of the year’s best films,” Karger said in a statement. “I’m so excited at the prospect of chatting with each of them in Santa Barbara in January.”
Last year, the Santa Barbara festival had 52 world premieres and 78 U.S. premieres, with honorary awards given to Angela Bassett, Cate Blanchett, Jamie Lee Curtis, Brendan Fraser, Austin Butler, Kerry Cordon, Danielle Deadwyler, Nina Hoss, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Jeremy Strong, Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Todd Field and Martin McDonagh. Ke Huy Quan and Curtis went on to win supporting acting Oscars for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and Fraser netted a Best Actor trophy for “The Whale.”
The 39th Santa Barbara International Film Festival will take place from February 7 – Feb. 17. Official events include screenings, filmmaker Q&As, industry panels and celebrity tributes, and they will be held throughout the city. For passes and more info, visit sbiff.org.
