4 months ago
EXCLUSIVE: Three icons of cinema, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn & Benicio Del Toro, will person nan Hammond Cinema Vanguard Award together astatine nan 41st yearly Santa Barbara International Film Festival, it was announced today. Spotlighting their activity successful this year’s wide praised One Battle After Another, written, directed and produced by Paul Thomas Anderson, nan actors will person nan prestigious award, which was precocious renamed aft longtime friends and collaborators of SBIFF –Deadline’s Pete Hammond and Madelyn Hammond – connected Monday, February 9, 2026.
Pete Hammond will beryllium moderating nan tribute for nan grant which recognizes nan trio of actors for their contributions to nan much-honored movie successful which they prima alongside Regina Hall, Teyana Taylor and Chase Infiniti. Their acclaimed roles arsenic Bob (DiCaprio), Col. Steven J. Jockjaw (Penn) and Sensei Sergio St. Carlos (Del Toro) person helped catapult nan movie to nan forefront of nan awards speech this season. One Battle After Another is nan astir nominated Golden Globes contender, earning 9 nominations, including individual nominations for DiCaprio, Penn and Del Toro, and it conscionable won 3 Critics Choice Awards including Best Picture. It has besides been named Best Picture of nan Year by The Gotham Awards, The National Board of Review, nan Los Angeles Film Critics Association, nan New York Film Critics Circle, nan National Society Of Film Critics and countless different location critics organizations.
“This is by acold nan astir breathtaking tribute successful SBIFF history. These 3 artists individually person regaled america pinch exemplary and unforgettable performances, and together, they person made 1 of nan champion films, ‘One Battle After Another.’ Let’s rejoice,” said Durling.
From Warner Bros. Pictures, One Battle After Another follows a washed-up revolutionary, Bob (DiCaprio), who exists successful a authorities of stoned paranoia, surviving disconnected nan grid pinch his spirited, self-reliant daughter, Willa (Infiniti). When his evil nemesis (Penn) resurfaces aft 16 years and Willa goes missing, nan erstwhile extremist scrambles to find her arsenic begetter and girl conflict nan consequences of his past.
DiCaprio is an Academy Award–winning actor, producer, and activistic whose profession spans much than 3 decades. He has received 7 Academy Award nominations, six BAFTA nominations, thirteen Screen Actors Guild nominations, and 15 Golden Globe nominations, winning nan Academy Award, Golden Globe, and BAFTA for Best Actor for his capacity successful Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu’s The Revenant. DiCaprio has earned captious acclaim for roles successful Once Upon a Time successful Hollywood, The Wolf of Wall Street, Inception, The Great Gatsby, and Django Unchained, arsenic good arsenic done his long-standing collaboration pinch head Martin Scorsese connected films including The Aviator, The Departed, Gangs of New York, Shutter Island, and Killers of nan Flower Moon. He began his movie profession successful nan early 1990s pinch standout performances successful This Boy’s Life and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, earning his first Academy Award nomination. In summation to acting, DiCaprio co-founded Appian Way pinch Jennifer Davisson, producing acclaimed features and impactful documentaries focused connected biology issues, including Path of nan Panther, Yanuni, and Virunga. In 2021, his instauration unified pinch Global Wildlife Conservation, combining to motorboat Re:wild, which useful pinch complete 600 partners successful much than 80 countries to thief protect much than 35,000 type of wildlife and half a cardinal acres of nan wild.
Penn is an Academy Award–winning actor, filmmaker, and writer whose profession spans much than 4 decades. As an actor, he has received 5 Academy Award nominations, winning Best Actor for Mystic River and Milk. Over nan people of his career, he has been honored by nan Cannes, Berlin, and Venice movie festivals, arsenic good arsenic nan Golden Globes, SAG Awards, and awesome critics’ groups. His extended filmography includes Dead Man Walking, Sweet and Lowdown, I Am Sam, 21 Grams, The Thin Red Line, The Tree of Life, Carlito’s Way, The Game, and Fast Times astatine Ridgemont High. As a filmmaker, Penn has directed acclaimed features including Into nan Wild, The Indian Runner, The Crossing Guard, The Pledge, and Flag Day, and co-directed nan Emmy-nominated documentary Superpower. Through his institution Projected Picture Works, he precocious produced September 5, which earned PGA and Golden Globe Best Picture nominations and an Academy Award information for Best Screenplay. A longtime humanitarian and civilian authorities advocate, Penn founded CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort) successful 2010, which continues to supply disaster alleviation worldwide.
Del Toro is an Academy Award–winning character celebrated for a assemblage of activity defined by range, intensity, and captious acclaim. He won nan Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic and received an further Academy Award information for Iñárritu’s 21 Grams. His portrayal of Che Guevara successful Soderbergh’s Che won him nan Best Actor prize astatine nan Cannes Film Festival and Spain’s Goya Award. Del Toro’s extended filmography includes The Usual Suspects, Basquiat, Fear and Loathing successful Las Vegas, Sicario and Sicario: Day of nan Soldado, Inherent Vice, Snatch, Sin City, Things We Lost successful nan Fire, and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, arsenic good arsenic tv activity specified arsenic Escape astatine Dannemora, which earned him an Emmy nomination. Recent projects see Netflix’s Reptile, which he besides executive produced, Soderbergh’s No Sudden Move, and Wes Anderson’s The Phoenician Scheme.
The Cinema Vanguard Award recognizes actors who person forged their ain path, taking creator risks and making a important and unsocial publication to film. Previous honorees see Adrian Brody & Guy Pearce, Paul Giamatti, Colin Farrell & Brendan Gleeson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Carey Mulligan, Laura Dern, Michael B. Jordan, Willem DaFoe, Casey Affleck & Michelle Williams, Rooney Mara, Eddie Redmayne & Felicity Jones, Martin Scorsese & Leonardo DiCaprio, Amy Adams, Jean Dujardin & Berenice Bejo, Nicole Kidman, Peter Sarsgaard, Christoph Waltz, Vera Farmiga, Kristin Scott Thomas, Stanley Tucci and Ryan Gosling.
The 41st Santa Barbara International Film Festival will return spot February 4 – February 14, 2026.
