Matt Damon Earns the Chairman’s Award at the Palm Springs Film Festival

Matt Damon The Martian Astronaut Scene
Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) finds himself stranded and alone on Mars in ‘The Martian’ (Photo © 2015 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation)

The Martian star Matt Damon has been chosen to receive the Chairman’s Award at the 2016 Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF). Damon will be presented with the award by his The Martian director Ridley Scott on January 2nd at the Palm Springs Convention Center. Previous winners of the festival’s Chairman Award include Ben Affleck, George Clooney, Richard Gere, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon.


“Since his breakthrough role in Good Will Hunting, Matt Damon has taken on a series of challenging roles through his career,” said Film Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “In his latest film, The Martian, Damon dazzles yet again as Mark Watney, an astronaut desperately trying to survive on Mars, yet still finding a way to laugh and bring hope to an impossible situation. It is an honor to present Matt Damon with the 2016 Chairman’s Award.”

The 2016 festival will also honor Cate Blanchett, Johnny Depp, Michael Fassbender, Brie Larson, Rooney Mara, Tom McCarthy, Saoirse Ronan and Alicia Vikander for their work in 2015 feature films.

The PSIFF will take place January 1 through 11, 2016.

The Martian Plot:

During a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney (Damon) is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive. Millions of miles away, NASA and a team of international scientists work tirelessly to bring “the Martian” home, while his crewmates concurrently plot a daring, if not impossible, rescue mission. As these stories of incredible bravery unfold, the world comes together to root for Watney’s safe return.