Actress Jenna Elfman who will return to TV next season as the First Lady in the comedy 1600 Penn will be the host of the annual Crystal + Lucy Awards. If I lived in LA I would so be at this event supporting the work of Women in Film. It’s one of the rare occasions to celebrate women in the business.
It looks like it will be a great evening. Meryl Streep will be honoring Viola Davis with the Crystal Award for Excellence in Film. Chloe Grace Moretz will receive the Max Mara Face of the Future Award (but we all know she is literally kicking ass in the present.) Bonnie Hammer who is the Chairman of NBCU Cable Entertainment and Cable Studios will receive the Lucy Award for Excellence in Television. Anette Haellmigk who shot Big Love will be presented with the Kodak Vision Award by Bill Paxton, and Ed O’Neill will present his former TV daughter Christina Applegate with the The Norma Zarky Humanitarian Award.
The women who run the divisions of Fox Studios — Emma Watts, Elizabeth Gabler, Nancy Utley, Claudia Lewis and Vanessa Morrison Murchison — will also be honored.
It promises to be a great evening and the money supports all the educational and philanthropic programs of Women in Film.
All these awards are significant and impressive and are worthy of note.
- The Lucy Award is named after Lucille Ball who was so much more than an TV actress- she was a producer and studio chief. This award is given to “recognize women and men and their creative works that exemplify the extraordinary accomplishments she embodied; whose excellence and innovation have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television.”
- The Crystal Award “honor outstanding women who, through their endurance and the excellence of their work, have helped to expand the role of women within the entertainment industry.” I can’t think of a person more appropriate for that than Viola Davis.
- The MaxMara “Face of the Future®”Award, “is given to an actress who is experiencing a turning point in her career…”
- We still have so much work to do in the area of cinematography so this one is vital to increse the visibility of women in this field — The Kodak Vision Award “acknowledges the accomplishments of female cinematographers with outstanding achievements in feature films and television, who also collaborate with and assist women in the entertainment industry.
- The Norma Zarky Humanitarian Award® is presented to individuals have demonstrated enlightened support for the advancement of equal opportunity for all and devotion to the improvement of the human condition. Zarky is a founder of Women in Film.
If you have a couple of hundred dollars for a good cause where you can mingle with stars who give a shot about women, this is your place. Tickets here.