Las Vegas Weekly

May 27, 2009 · 3:42 PM

CineVegas’ 2009 honorees include Willem Dafoe, Jon Voight

By Allison Duck

The CineVegas film festival, June 10-15, brings out the celebrity hound in all of us with Hollywood stars and top-notch actors descending upon Sin City for a week of parties, premieres and award presentations. This year, the festival will honor two actors, two directors and two video game design pioneers.

This year’s Marquee Award recipient is actor Jon Voight whose storied career spans four decades. An Academy Award winner for his role in Coming Home, Voight has also starred in other notable films like Midnight Cowboy and Deliverance. In honor of the actor’s award, CineVegas will present the rare, newly re-mastered director’s cut of the 1982 film, Lookin’ To Get Out, which Voight starred in and co-wrote and was shot in Las Vegas. Following the screening, Voight will hold a Q&A session to discuss the film.

The Vanguard Actor Award will go to Willem Dafoe. With over 70 films under his belt, this two time Academy Award winner has several upcoming releases including Antichrist, My Son My Son and Fantastic Mr. Fox. Dafoe will host a conversation on Sunday, June 14 at 3 p.m., followed by a screening of his 1982 classic The Loveless.

The Vanguard Director Award will be presented to George and Mike Kuchar for films such as Hold Me While I’m Naked, Sins of the Fleshapoids and Summer of No Return. The brothers are the subject of Jennifer Kroot’s documentary entitled It Came from Kuchar, a Pioneer Documentary at this year’s Festival.

A new category at CineVegas 2009 will be the Planet Illogica Award for Excellence in New Media. The inaugural award will go to Jenova Chen and Kellee Santiago, two USC alums who focus on video game design. They worked together to develop the game Cloud, which landed them much critical acclaim and led to the development of their own studio, thatgamecompany. Check CineVegas.com for more information on this year’s nominees and the entire Festival’s schedule.

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