Tributee Salutes

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

TOMMY LEE JONES

WES STUDI

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD goes to actor and film producer, Wes Studi has earned notability for his portrayals of Native Americans in film and has appeared Academy Award-winning films, such as Kevin Costner's Dances with Wolves, Michael Mann's The Last of the Mohicans, the award-winning Geronimo: An American Legend and Academy Award-nominated The New World (2005). Wes, this year, portrayed General Linus Abner (NBC series) in Kings.

Wes, born in Nofire Hollow, Oklahoma, of Cherokee Native American descent, became a lead actor in roles as both brave and harsh Indians, Pawnee warrior in Dances with Wolves, and Magua in The Last of the Mohicans (1992).

In 1993, Wes held the lead role in Geronimo: An American Legend bringing to life the strength of a man that held his honor and courage through the toughest times this land has known. In 2002, the legendary character of Lt. Joe Leaphorn was his, (PBS) based on Tony Hillerman's novels, produced by Robert Redford.
 

Wes portrayed a Powhatan chief Opechancanough in The New World in 2005 which became an Academy Award-nominated film directed by Terrence Malick, and as Major Ridge in Trail of Tears, in 2009 for Spielberg’s, We Shall Remain series, which established Native history as an essential part of American history. Wes spoke his traditional language, Cherokee, throughout this performance.
 

Wes’ quiet moments are spent stone carving, writing children's books and playing a mean-lean bass in The Firecat. Above all else, Wes is a humanist who has always found his path on the Red Road by assisting his Indigenous brothers and sisters when called, without judgement, without fail.
The Santa Fe Film Festival is deeply honored to award Wes Studi the Lifetime Achievement Award. This Festival season, Wes appears in the striking lead role of Sam in The Only Good Indian and has 4 film projects emerging in the coming year.

MARK RYDELL - LUMINARY TRIBUTEE AWARD

ELLEN KURAS - KODAK CINEMATOGRAPHER LUMINARY

As director of photography Ellen Kuras’ stylized work set a new path for film demonstrating a keen lyric, impressionistic feel. Dividing her time between documentaries and features her intense work style with an insistence on interpreting the event in each scene through her lens, integrating grainy film stocks, has now become her trademark.

Raised in New Jersey, Ellen was studying Egyptology when she took a photography course and became hooked. Working as an associate producer, assistant camera and even a third electrician on productions in New York allowed her to master her craft.
 

In 1987, Kuras got a break when a cinematographer dropped out of a project and was hired last minute. The result, "Samsara: Death and Rebirth in Cambodia", about the aftermath of the Pol Pot regime. Then "Swoon", a black and white telling of the Leopold and Loeb murder story shot slightly grainy, was impressionistic and highly stylized, brought her first Best Cinematography award in 1992.
 

Ellen shot Jim Jarmusch's "Coffee and Cigarettes: Somewhere in California" (1993), in which Iggy Pop meets Tom Waits. That same year,"The Shvitz", which looked at the history and practice of steam baths broughthere by Eastern European Jewish immigrants, Ellen was nominated for an Emmy Award for her cinematography for "A Century of Women" (TNT).
 

Douglas Keeve's "Unzipped," following Isaac Mizrahi in his fashion world revealing the fashion environment rather than exploit the potential glamour was through her lens, in 1996. Then won Best Cinematography award for Rebecca Miller's "Angela" and firmed her status with Mary Harron's "I Shot Andy Warhol" (1996), with the feel of the grit and madness of Greenwich Village portraying potential Warhol assassin Valerie Solanas.
Away We Go; The Betrayal; Neil Young: Heart of Gold; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; Analyze That and Bamboozled round out her lens this decade, a lens always admired on screen. Brava’s to Ellen as recipient of this years Kodak Cinematographer Tribute.

Special Guests:

Dabney Coleman - Milargo Awards presenter anad panelist

Anna Gunn - Milagro Awards co- host and panelist

Anna Gunn is currently one of TV's sexiest women.  In her current role starring on AMC's darkly comedic Emmy nominated series BREAKING BAD, Anna is immersed into one of her most challenging roles yet.  On BREAKING BAD Anna plays the contemporary housewife 'Skyler White,' spouse of the crystal-meth cooking, terminally ill chemistry teacher 'Walter White' (played by Bryan Cranston) and mother to teenage son 'Walter White Jr.' (played by RJ Mitte) who was born with cerebral palsy. Anna is no stranger to award winning TV projects.  She is already known for her roles as ADA 'Jean Ward' on David E. Kelly's Emmy Award winning legal drama THE PRACTICE and playing  'Martha Bullock' on HBO's critically acclaimed, multiple award winning western drama DEADWOOD. 

This diverse actress seamlessly works across film, television and stage.  To further add variety, Anna voiced the character of 'Ariel' in the LEGACY OF KAIN series of videogames.  A true artist at heart, Anna's focus is always on the quality of her work over the quantity.  As a native of New Mexico, Anna enjoys outdoor activities such as camping, hiking, skiing and bike riding and loves to immerse herself in a great book, as a photographer, and enjoys travel.

John Carroll Lynch - Milagro Awards co-host and panelist

John Carroll Lynch began a film career with “Grumpy Old Men” in 1993 that now spans over 40 films including “Fargo,” "Volcano," “Zodiac,” “Face/Off,”  “Gran Torino,”  “The Good Girl,” and “Shutter Island.” 

He has been honored to work for legendary film film makers, such as Martin Scorcese, Clint Eastwood, David Fincher, Albert Brooks, John Woo and Joel and Ethan Coen, among others.

On television, he is a veteran of 5 series, most notably, “The Drew Carey Show”(for which he was nominated for a GLAAD award), “The Brotherhood of Poland, N.H.” and HBO’s “Carnivále.”   A native of Boulder, CO, Lynch graduated from Catholic University of America and earned a B.F.A. in theater. John came to film after 8 years as a company member at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, MN.