Guillermo del Toro’s rapturous fantasy “The Shape of Water” will receive the Vanguard Award at the 2018 Palm Springs International Film Festival, PSIFF organizers announced on Friday.
The award is designed to honor the director and cast of a film, with del Toro scheduled to accept the honor along with cast members Sally Hawkins, Octavia Spencer and Doug Jones and producer J. Miles Dale. Other members of the cast may also attend.
The Awards Gala will be held on Jan. 2, 2018 in the Palm Springs Convention Center, at the beginning of the film festival that will run through Jan. 15.
A fantasy about a mute worker in a early 1960s government lab (Hawkins) who finds herself attracted to a strange aquatic creature being held for study, “The Shape of Water” has been greeted with near-unanimous acclaim since its premiere at the Venice International Film Festival, where it won the top jury prize, the Golden Lion.
The Vanguard Award went to “La La Land” last year. Other 2018 honorees include Timothee Chalamet, Gal Gadot, Holly Hunter, Allison Janney, Gary Oldman and Sam Rockwell, with additional names yet to be announced.