California: 23rd Palm Springs Intl Film Fest From Jan. 5–16

The 2012 Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) will be held from January 5–16, 2012. It is one of the largest film festivals in North America, welcoming 1,30,000 attendees each year for its line-up of new and celebrated international features and documentaries.

The 2012 Chairman's Award will be presented to George Clooney at the 23rd annual awards gala on January 7 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The Festival is known for this annual Black Tie Awards Gala, presented by Cartier and hosted by Mary Hart.

The 23rd annual Palm Springs Film Festival will also honor actress Michelle Williams with the Desert Palm Achievement Award for Acting and actress Glenn Close with the Career Achievement Award at its star-studded awards gala.

Last year's Desert Palm Achievement Award was presented to Colin Firth, 2011 Oscar winner for Best Actor. The Career Achievement Award was presented to Robert Duvall.

The 2011 Breakthrough Performance Award was presented to Carey Mulligan, and Ben Affleck was awarded the Chairman's Award.

Once again the Palm Springs International Film Festival presents the largest selection of foreign language Oscar submissions of any film festival in the world.

This year 65 countries have submitted films to the Academy in hopes of taking home the Oscar. 40 of the strongest films were selected for presentation at the 2011 Palm Springs International Film Festival.