MID-LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Debra Winger

Legendary status as the top actress in Hollywood. Three Oscar nominations for Best Actress. A string of wildly commercially successful films, followed by many decades of adventuresome choices in more boundary-pushing films. That’s just a bit of the acting props of Debra Winger. And now, at last, a Mid-Life Achievement Award here at the Maine International Film Festival, which means, among other things, we have many more decades of her great work to look forward to! While Debra is perhaps best known for films like URBAN COWBOY, AN OFFICER AND A GENTLEMAN and TERMS OF ENDEARMENT (the latter two of which garnered those Academy Award nominations, along with the later SHADOWLANDS), it will be thrilling to have the chance to discover or rediscover her even more marvelous performances in the films we’ll be screening at MIFF with her this year, films that cover the gamut from Hollywood to indie cinema, and which span the world, from L.A. to Tunisia. We are honored to host the wonderful Debra Winger at MIFF this year!

Friday, July 15 6:30 P.M. | WOH

Mid-Life Achievement Award Presentation (35mm screening) A DANGEROUS WOMAN

USA 1993 - 35mm - 102 minutes, in English Director: Stephen Gyllenhaal Screenplay, Producer: Naomi Foner

Cast: Debra Winger, Garbriel Byrne, Barbara Hershey, Laurie Metcalf, David Strathairn, John Terry Print Courtesy: Universal Pictures

Though Debra Winger garnered a 1993 Golden Globe Best Actress for A DANGEROUS WOMAN, this complex, unusual, unconventional film didn’t find the audience it—and in particular Winger’s drop-dead astonishing performance— deserved. With this 35mm screening, we aim to correct that at least a bit. Debra’s supporting cast, including fellow MIFF Mid-Life Achievement Award honoree Gabriel Byrne in a charming turn, as well as Barbara Hershey, David Strathairn, are memorable as well, but the film centers on Winger’s Martha Horgan: bespectacled, mentally different, and shying from conventional, deep contact with others. She lives a sheltered life with her young aunt, Frances, and holds down a modest job until she is set up for having pillaged small sums of money from her employer. But Martha truly never lies... either about that, or about her strong feelings for Byrne’s romantic handyman. Where can such unusual honesty lead? “Movies are so seldom perfect that it’s enough to find something perfect in them. What’s nearly perfect in A DANGEROUS WOMAN is the Debra Winger performance” —Roger Ebert. —Ken Eisen

Sponsored by Peter and Lee Lyford

Wednesday, July 13 6:30 P.M. | RR1