Kate Beckinsale Among The Newport Beach Film Festival Honorees

The Newport Beach Film Festival will celebrate outstanding contribution to global cinema at a special event during the 17th annual Festival (April 21-28, 2016) at the Balboa Bay Resort, April 23.

"The Newport Beach Film Festival is proud to continue its tradition of recognizing superior achievements in global cinema. From composing, to acting and screenwriting, this year's honorees are legends and leaders in their craft," stated Newport Beach Film Festival Co-Founder and CEO Gregg Schwenk.

This year the honorees include:

KATE BECKINSALE
NBFF Woman of Distinction Award for Outstanding Contribution to Acting
Kate Beckinsale is an English actress who appeared in the "Underworld" film series and has since starred in many action films, including "Van Helsing," "Whiteout," "Contraband," and "Total Recall." Her dramatic projects include "Snow Angels," "Winged Creatures," and "Nothing but the Truth" (for which she earned a Critic's Choice Award nomination in 2008). She is currently starring in the comedy "Love & Friendship," screening at this year's NBFF.

BURT BACHARACH
Legend Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music in Cinema
Burt Bacharach is a six-time Grammy Award winner and three-time Academy Award winning composer, songwriter, record producer, pianist and singer. His music and film scores have spanned six decades and included an impressive list of collaborations. Burt composed the score for "Po," screening at this year's NBFF.

RITA MORENO
Legend Award for Outstanding Contribution to Cinema
Rita Moreno has had a thriving acting career spanning six decades and is one of only twelve performers to have won all four major annual American entertainment awards, which include an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony. Some of her most memorable roles include Anita in "West Side Story" and Tuptim in "The King and I." She is currently starring in the film, "Remember Me" screening at this year's NBFF.

LINDA WOOLVERTON
Award for Outstanding Contribution to Screenwriting
Screenwriter, playwright and novelist, Linda Woolverton was the first woman to write an animated feature screenplay for Disney with "Beauty and the Beast," and the first and only female screenwriter with a sole writing credit on a billion-dollar film, "Alice in Wonderland." Linda is a former guest lecturer at the NBFF seminar series and has several upcoming films and series including "Alice through the Looking Glass" and "Maleficent 2."

In addition to the Festival Honors, the Festival, in partnership with Variety will recognize 10 Cinematographers to Watch. The 2016 10 to Watch are:

DREW DANIELS
Shot Trey Edward Shults' "Krisha," the big prizewinner at SXSW last year (Grand Jury Award and Audience Award) and a Cannes Critics' Week selection.

THIMIOS BAKATAKIS
Shot Cannes Jury prizewinner and 2016 BAFTA nominee "The Lobster," directed by fellow Greek Yorgos Lanthimos. Other credits include "Blind," "Keep the Lights On" and the upcoming "Una," with Rooney Mara and Ben Mendelsohn.

DIEGO GARCIA
Shot two stunning-looking 2015 features at opposite ends of the spectrum, linked only by the genius of their cinematography: Apichatpong Weerasethakul's "Cemetery of Splendor" and Brazilian Gabriel Mascaro's "Neon Bull."

MANUEL DACOSSE
In the past three years, he's lensed four of the most visually striking Euro art/genre films: "Alleluia," "The Strange Color," "Of Your Body's Tears," "Evolution," and "The Lady in the Car with Glasses and a Gun."

MANUEL BILLETER
Created the noir tone of Netflix's "Jessica Jones," which released to critical acclaim last year. "Jessica Jones" is the second show - alongside "Daredevil, Luke Cage" (which Billeter is currently lensing). Billeter's other credits include: episodes of "Orange is the New Black," episodes of "Person of Interest," and episodes of "Law & Order."

POLLY MORGAN
Went into this year's Sundance Film Festival with two films in competition: the cult documentary "Holy Hell" and the dramatic comedy "The Intervention," which was sold to Paramount and will release in September 2016. Morgan also recently wrapped a new Sundance/BBC co-production, "The A Word," by Peter Balker. Her first work on the small screen came on the hit FX show "American Horror Story: Asylum," shooting alongside Michael Goi, ASC. Her next project is the horror film "Slumber" starring Maggie Q.

PETER FLINCKENBERG
Finnish cinematographer Flinckenberg recently shot "Woodshock" for Kate and Laura Mulleavy (Rodarte designers) and starring Kirsten Dunst. Last year, Flinckenberg won the ASC Spotlight Award for his work on "Concrete Night," which premiered at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was also nominated to the Camerimage main competition and won a Jussi, the Finnish equivalent of the Academy Award, for Best Cinematography.

MARK PATTEN
Patten is the cinematographer behind FX's highly anticipated series "Taboo" starring Tom Hardy. The show is directed by Kristoffer Nyholm. He served as the director of photography on "Morgan," directed by Luke Scott and will be released later this year.

MONIKA LENCZEWSKA
The Polish DP was one of the only cinematographers to have two films simultaneously premiere at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival: "Imperial Dreams," directed by Malik Vitthal and Zeresenay Mehari's "Difret," which was executive-produced by Angelina Jolie. Lenczewska went on to receive a Best Cinematography nomination at Sundance and Best Cinematography Debut nomination at Camerimage. Lenczewska shot Fabrice Du Welz's mystery noir thriller "Message from the King," starring Chadwick Boseman and Luke Evans. Previously, she shot the Polish film "Strange Heaven" for director Dariusz Gajewski and the Greek film "Park" for director Sofia Exarhou, which was developed out of the Sundance Lab.

LAURIE ROSE
Mr. Rose is better know in England, where his work with bad boy director Ben Wheatley has raised eyebrows in their style and audacity, especially their latest collaboration, "High-Rise," a dystopian tale based on J.G. Ballard's near-future sci-fi novel. His work on the two recent mini-series "Peaky Blinders" and "London Spy" only points to Rose's rich versatility.

The event will be held:
Balboa Bay Resort, 1221 W. Coast Highway, Newport Beach
April 23
6 - 8 PM

Tickets are $150 and available at www.NewportBeachFilmfest.com.

Awards will be designed and presented by Tiffany and Co.

As part of the 2016 Honors, the Festival hosted a special celebration in London, England with its partner Visit Newport Beach, Inc., celebrating the film "Brooklyn" as Best Picture with special recognition to the director and screenwriter.

About the Newport Beach Film Festival
Celebrated as one of the leading lifestyle film festivals in the United States, the Newport Beach Film Festival seeks to bring to Orange County the best of classic and contemporary filmmaking from around the world. Committed to enlightening the public with a first-class international film program, a forum for cultural understanding and enriching educational opportunities, the NBFF focuses on showcasing a diverse collection of studio and independent films from around the globe. The 17th annual Newport Beach Film Festival runs April 21st-April 28th and will spotlight over 350 films from around the world.

About Newport Beach & Company
Founded in January 2013, Newport Beach & Co. is a non-profit organization established to serve as the official marketing agency for the city of Newport Beach. The agency brings together all of the marketing entities connected to the Newport Beach brand, and is designed to oversee separate business units that include Visit Newport Beach, Dine Newport Beach, Celebrate Newport Beach, Enterprise Newport Beach and Newport Beach TV. For more information, please visit VisitNewportBeach.com.

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