20th Annual Maine International Film Festival to Honor Actress Lauren Hutton

The Maine International Film Festival (MIFF) will present its annual Mid-Life Achievement Award to actress and supermodel Lauren Hutton at a special ceremony held at the Waterville Opera House on the evening of July 20. Best known for heating up the screen in American Gigolo, Hutton's acting skills were featured in extraordinary films from extraordinary directors, made in the flush of the American film renaissance of the 70s, when she worked with directors such as Paul Schrader, Robert Altman, Karel Reisz, and Alan Rudolph.

"Lauren's immediacy and talent was always evident on the screen, as it is now, a presence and intelligence and pride that is unique and distinct, and that was made for lights and drama and comedy," said MIFF Programming Director Ken Eisen. "It's a pleasure to welcome her and her fine films to MIFF this year, and to honor her film career with our annual Mid-Life Achievement Award."

Following her success as a top fashion model for the Ford Modeling Agency and Revlon cosmetics, Hutton was selected to play the only major female character in the acclaimed sports drama Paper Lion (1968). After thrilling audiences in the AMERICAN CRIME drama, The Gambler (1974), Hutton brought her unique talents and poise to bear when she sizzled in the starring role of Michelle Stratton in American Gigolo (1980), and played the head of a stealth marketing agency in the 2009 feature film The Joneses. In addition to her impressive film career, Hutton is no stranger to the small screen, featured in the hit television series Paper Dolls and Nip/Tuck. Proving herself an incredibly versatile performer on screen, stage and runway, Hutton continues to be one of the world's top supermodels, appearing on the cover of Vogue magazine more than 25 times throughout her impressive career and recently starred in a critically-acclaimed Calvin Klein ad campaign.

The award presentation will be held after a screening of American Gigolo, a romantic crime film directed and written by Paul Schrader, on Thursday, July 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the Waterville Opera House. The film centers on a male escort (played by Richard Gere) who is framed for a murder he did not commit. Hutton will be in Waterville for several days of the festival with screenings of The Gambler, A Wedding, and Welcome to L.A. Last year, actor Gabriel Byrne was presented with the Mid-Life Achievement Award. Previous winners include Glenn Close, Jonathan Demme, Peter Fonda, Ed Harris, Sissy Spacek, and John Turturro, among others.

"As we celebrate an incredible MIFF milestone this year - our 20th anniversary - we could not have asked for a more interesting special guest than Lauren, whose groundbreaking career has crossed genres as well as decades," said Festival Director Shannon Haines.

Festival passes are now on sale on the MIFF website at http://www.miff.org. The MIFF film program will be announced on Monday, June 26th when tickets are made available for purchase online.

About the Maine International Film Festival: The 20th annual Maine International Film Festival will be held in Waterville, Maine from July 14-23 at Railroad Square Cinema and the Waterville Opera House. During the 10 days of the festival, MIFF features nearly 100 films, representing the best of American and International independent cinema and spotlighting some of Maine and New England's most innovative filmmakers. The full MIFF schedule will be available on the festival's website, http://www.miff.org/ in June. The Maine International Film Festival is a project of the Maine Film Center, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization whose mission is to enrich, educate and entertain the community through film and art.

Image: http://www.miff.org/