Actor Gabriel Byrne will be the Mid-Life Achievement Award recipient at this year’s Maine International Flim Festival in Waterville.
Byrne, a Best Leading Actor Tony Award nominee this year for his performance in the Broadway production of “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” will be presented the award at a July 15 ceremony at the Waterville Opera House. The festival runs from July 8 to 17.
Organizers announced Wednesday that director and screenwriter Robert Benton will be the Lifetime Achievement Award recipient at the festival.
“We are thrilled to honor Gabriel Byrne with the 2016 Mid-Life Achievement Award,” MIFF programming director Ken Eisen said Thursday in a news release. “Gabriel is a truly brilliant actor with a career that spans over four decades and includes over 100 film, stage, and TV credits. We can’t wait to welcome him to MIFF.”
Byrne has appeared in more than 35 feature films, including “Excalibur,” “Miller’s Crossing,” “The Usual Suspects” and “Stigmata.” He co-wrote “The Last of the High Kings” and has produced several films, including the Academy Award-nominated “In the Name of the Father,” the release noted.
Byrne also stars in the HBO drama “In Treatment,” for which he won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for two Emmy Awards and two Satellite Awards.
The award presentation will be held after a screening of “The Usual Suspects,” at 6:30 p.m. Friday, July 15, at the Waterville Opera House. The film centers on five criminals (played by Gabriel Byrne, Kevin Spacey, Benicio Del Toro, Kevin Pollak and Stephen Baldwin) who meet in a police lineup and decide to pull off a heist together.
Byrne will be in Waterville on July 14 and 15, the release said. Other Byrne films to be screened at the festival are “Miller’s Crossing,” “Jindabyne,” and “Louder Than Bombs.”
Last year’s Mid-Life Achievement winner was actor Michael Murphy. Previous winners include Glenn Close, Ed Harris, John Turturro, Sissy Spacek and Thelma Schoonmaker, among others.
The Maine International Film Festival, its 19th year, will screen almost 100 films featuring American and international independent filmmakers and spotlighting innovators from Maine and the rest of New England, the release said.
Information is available on the festival’s website, www.miff.org.
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