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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
The Bahamas International Film Festival (BIFF) announced today that an award-winning film, television and stage actress Cicely Tyson, (
The Help,
Fried Green Tomatoes,
Roots,
Sounder, Showing Roots) will be honoured with the 1st
ever-prestigious Sir Sidney Poitier Tribute Award at this year’s
Bahamas International Film Festival Oscar Party taking place on Saturday, March 19th.
Academy Award® winner and renowned global icon Sir Sidney Poitier has
agreed to the naming of the prestigious Career Achievement Award at the
Bahamas International Film Festival the “Sir Sidney Poitier Tribute Award.”
Tyson will be on hand for the special tribute and presentation at Humidor, Graycliff on the evening of Sunday, February 28th. The announcement was made by BIFF founder and executive director Leslie Vanderpool.
“Cicely Tyson is an immensely gracious and beautiful woman, an
extraordinary actress who has broken barriers in film and in her
theatrical performances. Mrs. Tyson is also known to be an advocate for
Civil Rights and the basic of human kindness. She is the governess of
acting and a true role model for all men and women of color. She has
broken ceilings and paved the way for excellence and it is an incredible
honor to have Cicely Tyson to receive the 1st Sir Sidney
Poitier Tribute Award at the Bahamas International Film Festival,” said
Vanderpool. “We’re honoured to recognize her amazing career on this
special evening.”
“Leslie Vanderpool’s efforts have been extraordinary in making it
possible for The Bahamas to have not only a film festival, but to also
attract some of the great film artists and filmmakers from around the
world. People like Johnny Depp, Nicolas Cage, Laurence Fishburne, Danny
Glover, Alan Arkin, Sir Sean Connery, Sophie Okonedo, Lee Daniels,
Lenny Kravitz and my own daughter Sydney Tamiia Poitier, who have found,
to their great surprise, that the Bahamas is moving swiftly toward a
bona fide motion picture community--all of which have been structured by
the imaginative young Bahamians who have committed themselves to The
Bahamas having a film community of its own,” Poitier said.
"I am honoured to be receiving the 1st Sir Sidney Poitier Tribute Award.
This award, in recognition of my dear friend and colleague delights my
heart; both Sydney and I have always tried to use our career to not only
entertain, and enlighten, but to educate as well. The Bahamas
International Film Festival has become a very important avenue to
highlight the work of film, filmmakers and artist," said Ms Tyson.
Actress, model and photographer, Cicely Tyson has been a commanding
presence on screen, stage and television for more than 60 years. Tyson
who has carefully chosen characters that depict positive role models was
inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in 1977.
As an actress, her film, television and theater credits range from
Moon on a Rainbow Shaw where she received a Drama Desk Award in 1962 for her Off-Broadway performance;
Sounder where
she was nominated for the Academy and Golden Globe Awards for Best
Actress for her performance as Rebecca Morgan, to starring in
The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, for which she won two Emmy Awards and was nominated for a BAFTA Award.
One of the most outstanding performances was her notable role on
television as Kunta Kinte's mother in the adaptation of Alex Haley's
Roots
.
She starred in an array of television shows motion pictures including the critically acclaimed
Fried Green Tomatoes; Hoodlum;
Diary Of A Mad Black Woman and
Why Did I Get Married?
In 2011, Tyson starred in
The Help, Produced by Lee Daniels, a
friend of the Bahamas International Film Festival, she received awards
for her ensemble work as Constantine from the BFCA and SAG Awards and
she has an additional four SAG Award nominations.
Additionally In 2014, She starred on Broadway in
The Trip to Bountiful as Carrie Watts, for which she won the Tony Award, Outer Critics Award, and Drama Desk Award for Best Actress in a Play.
In 2015 a film starring Tyson,
Showing Roots, directed
by Michael Wilson and written by Susan Batten won the grand jury award
for the Spirit Of Freedom Narrative Award at the 2015 Bahamas International Film Festival.
Tyson has gained great respect as she serves underprivileged
communities, spending time supporting the Cicely Tyson School of
Performing and Fine Arts, a magnet school in East Orange, New Jersey.
A native of New York City, Tyson grew up in Harlem, New York. At a very
young age she pursued a modeling career and was eventually being drawn
to an acting career. She was passionate about the roles she accepted and
explained in a 1983 interview, "Unless a piece really said something, I
had no interest in it. I have got to know that I have served some
purpose here.”
The 2016 BIFF Sir Sidney Poitier Tribute Award which will be presented
to Cicely Tyson will take place at the 2016 BIFF Oscar Party & Haven
Awards sponsored by Scotia Wealth Management on Sunday, February 28th.
The Tribute will be moderated by Patty Roker. Roker is a writer,
broadcaster, well known commercial voice, and script editor of last
year's Haven Award winner, "The Gentle Giant.” She will be conducting
the conversation with our honoree about her life, her career and her
very special outlook on the business of acting.
© Copyright 2016 by thebahamasweekly.com
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