The Weinstein Company’s The Imitation Game directed by Morten Tyldum has been named the winner of the 26th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival’s Ensemble Performance Award. The cast – Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Rory Kinnear, Allen Leech, Matthew Beard, Charles Dance and Mark Strong – will receive the honor at the January 3, 2015 awards gala in Palm Springs.
“The Imitation Game is one of the very best ensembles to grace the screen this season,” said Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley lead an outstanding cast in The Imitation Game, a film about Alan Turing as he attempts to crack Germany’s Enigma machine. The Palm Springs International Film Festival is proud to present the entire cast of The Imitation Game with the Ensemble Performance Award.”
The Imitation Game cast joins a list of 2015 Palm Springs Film Festival winners that includes Julianne Moore, Reese Witherspoon, Rosamund Pike, Eddie Redmayne, and J.K. Simmons.
The Imitation Game Plot:
During the winter of 1952, British authorities entered the home of mathematician, cryptanalyst and war hero Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch) to investigate a reported burglary. They instead ended up arresting Turing himself on charges of ‘gross indecency’, an accusation that would lead to his devastating conviction for the criminal offense of homosexuality – little did officials know, they were actually incriminating the pioneer of modern-day computing.
Famously leading a motley group of scholars, linguists, chess champions and intelligence officers, he was credited with cracking the so-called unbreakable codes of Germany’s World War II Enigma machine. An intense and haunting portrayal of a brilliant, complicated man, The Imitation Game follows a genius who under nail-biting pressure helped to shorten the war and, in turn, save thousands of lives.
