BRAD PITT - BABEL TRIUMPHS AT FILM AWARDS

BABEL TRIUMPHS AT FILM AWARDS

Critically acclaimed film BABEL triumphed at the 2007 Palm Springs International Film Festival Gala Awards on Saturday night (6JAN07), winning multiple honours. Stars BRAD PITT, CATE BLANCHETT, ADRIANA BARRAZA and RINKO KIKUCHI took home the Ensemble Performance Award while ALEJANDRO GONZALEZ INARRITU won the best director gong. Pitt says of the honour, "I love the undercurrent of this film, and that is the inability, sometimes, to understand where the other side is coming from." Blanchett, also accepted the festival's Career Achievement Award, but apologised for making so many films released in 2006, including NOTES ON A SCANDAL and THE GOOD GERMAN. LITTLE CHILDREN star KATE WINSLET was awarded with the festival's Desert Palm Achievement for Acting, while the films's director TODD FIELD won the Sonny Bono Visionary Award. Winslet hopes her achievement will encourage more people to go and see the $54 million (GBP30 million) film, which has so far failed to draw large audiences. She says, "That's the thing that's so fantastic about the nominations. It does mean that hopefully people will go and see the movie." Other stars to enjoy success were JESSICA BIEL and ADAM BEACH, who both won Rising Star Awards and JENNIFER HUDSON who garnered best breakthrough performance for DREAMGIRLS.