LAFCA To Honor Elaine May With Career Achievement Award; Clarence Avant, Sherry Lansing Among Honorees For AAFCA Achievement Awards

Dino-Ray Ramos

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The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) will honor legendary actress, writer and director Elaine May with this year’s Career Achievement Award. She will be presented with honor at the organization’s annual awards dinner on January 11, 2020, at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City.

A filmmaker, actor, and comedian, May has a resume of films that includes A New Leaf, The Heartbreak Kid, Mikey and Nicky and Ishtar. She is a two-time Academy Award nominee, receiving nods for Best Adapted Screenplay for Heaven Can Wait and Primary Colors. Acting-wise, she appeared in Enter Laughing, California Suite, In the Spirit and Small Time Crooks. In 2019, she won the Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Play in The Waverly Gallery. Prior to that, she received the National Medal of Arts in 2013.

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LAFCA’s awards voting is set for December 8 with the winners being honored along with May at the January event.

The African American Film Critics Association has unveiled their honorees for the 2020 AAFCA Special Achievement Awards Luncheon to be held on Saturday, April 11, 2020 at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades.

The legendary Clarence Avant, who was the subject of the Netflix documentary, The Black Godfather, will receive the Game Changer Award for his trailblazing moves in the entertainment industry. Former Paramount chair Sherry Lansing will receive the Legacy Award as one of the few female studio heads and her work through her eponymous foundation.

Other honorees include film critic Richard Roeper who will receive the Roger Ebert Award; Warner Bros. Pictures’ senior vice president, film production Niija Kuykendall who will receive the Ashley Boone Award as well as filmmakers Matthew Cherry (BlacKkKlansman, Hair Love) and Deon Taylor (The Intruder, Black and Blue) who will be honored with the Breakout Filmmaker and Horizon Awards, respectively.

In addition, the National Association of Latino Independent Producers (NALIP) will receive AAFCA’s Salute To Excellence Award in recognition of its work to maximize diversity and inclusion for creators of color in entertainment. Rounding out the roster of honorees is the acclaimed director of stage and screen Kenny Leon (American Son) who will receive the Nissan Innovator Award.

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