HAMNET stars to receive Vanguard Award
The Palm Springs International Film Awards has revealed that Focus Features’ HAMNET will receive the prestigious Vanguard Award this January, recognizing the collective achievement of a film’s cast and director when their collaboration produces something truly exceptional. Director Chloé Zhao, along with actors Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal, are all expected to attend the ceremony on January 3, 2026, at the Palm Springs Convention Center, with the festival itself running from January 2 through 12. Presented by Kering and sponsored by Entertainment Tonight, the event promises to celebrate one of the year’s most emotionally powerful cinematic experiences.
The Academy Award-winning Zhao brings her distinctive sensibility to this adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s celebrated novel, crafting a deeply observed meditation on love’s fragility and art’s capacity to transform suffering into transcendence. The film traces the relationship between an impoverished Latin tutor named William Shakespeare and the free-spirited Agnes, whose passionate attraction ignites a torrid affair that evolves into marriage and a family with three children. Their bond faces its greatest test when William’s theatrical ambitions pull him toward London’s stages while Agnes remains behind, shouldering the weight of domestic life alone. When devastating tragedy strikes their family, the couple’s once-unshakeable connection fractures under grief’s unbearable pressure, yet from this shared anguish emerges the raw emotional material that will eventually crystallize into Shakespeare’s immortal masterpiece, HAMLET.
Festival Chairman Nachhattar Singh Chandi emphasized the profound honor of presenting this year’s Vanguard Award to HAMNET, calling it one of the most resonant films of the year and praising Zhao for bringing such weighty subject matter to the screen with remarkable grace. The extraordinary performances delivered by Buckley and Mescal establish the film’s deeply human core, grounding its exploration of artistic genius in the messy, painful reality of lived experience. The recognition celebrates HAMNET‘s exceptional achievement in cinematic storytelling, acknowledging how it transforms a historical footnote into something universal and achingly immediate, revealing how the greatest art often emerges from our deepest wounds.
Paul Mescal is an Irish God in the new @britishgq interview.
In just a few years, he`s become more than an actor—he`s a mirror we all project onto, filling him with our ideas about masculinity, vulnerability, and what a leading man can be in 2025.
More Mescal at irishfilmtv.com.
A priest. A pool. A Spanish island. And one very dead body. 🏊♂️☠️
THESE SACRED VOWS hits RTÉ One on February 1st, and this wedding weekend mystery is about to become your next obsession.
Newly released trailer now at irishfilmtv.com.
Killarney`s own Jessie Buckley just took home the Critics Choice Award for Best Actress for HAMNET, and her acceptance speech was pure gold 🏆✨
In HAMNET, Buckley delivers a devastating performance as Agnes, William Shakespeare`s wife, navigating the grief of losing their 11-year-old son. Critics are calling it unforgettable, and now she has the trophy to prove it 🎬💚
More Jessie at irishfilmtv.com.
HAMNET star Jessie Buckley shines in BEAST, now on #Netflix.
A troubled woman living in an isolated community finds herself pulled between the control of her oppressive family and the allure of a secretive outsider suspected of a series of brutal murders.
More at irishfilmtv.com.
🕺✨ DANCING WITH THE STARS IRELAND is back for S9 tonight!
Get ready for spray tans, sequins, and Sunday night sparkle because Ireland`s favourite winter escape is almost here. Who`s ready to vote their faves to victory? 💃
More at irishfilmtv.com.
** Now on Netflix **
RUN AWAY brings Harlan Coben back to form with James Nesbitt doing what he does best—playing a tormented father searching for his missing daughter against all advice.
More at irishfilmtv.com.
By order of the Peaky Blinders, Merry Christmas!
A teaser for the new film PEAKY BLINDERS: THE IMMORTAL MAN just dropped, and it features Cillian Murphy’s gangster Tommy Shelby returning to his old ways despite leaving them all behind at the end of the TV series.
Watch now at irishfilmtv.com.
Domhnall Gleeson heads to a remote Scottish isle for THE INCOMER!
He plays an awkward council worker tasked with relocating two siblings who survive by hunting seabirds, talking to mythical beings, and fiercely defending their homeland from outsiders.
More Domhnall at irishfilmtv.com.
Andrew Scott is bringing one of theater`s most powerful true stories to life.
The ALL OF US STRANGERS star will portray Scottish actor Ian Charleson in ELSINORE, chronicling Charleson`s breathtaking final performance as Hamlet at London`s National Theatre before his death in 1990 at age 40.
More via irishfilmtv.com.
Belfast-born Ciaran Hinds shines in Bradley Copper`s IS THIS THING ON?
With Hinds, you`re not just getting an actor. You`re getting decades of gravitas, warmth, and that rare ability to make every scene feel like it matters. From prestige drama to fantasy epics, he`s built a career on understated brilliance. And now? He`s ready to find the humor in heartbreak.
More Ciaran at irishfilmtv.com.
Gothic drama LIES WE TELL is now on Netflix.
With powerful performances by Agnes O`Casey and David Wilmot, the Irish drama takes Sheridan Le Fanu`s classic novel UNCLE SILAS and transforms it into something urgent and vital for our moment.
More at irishfilmtv.com.
When Colin Farrell and Jessie Buckley finally sat down together, they were strangers—but within moments, the conversation became profound.
Both Irish actors are carrying the weight of devastating roles this year: Farrell as a gambling addict spiraling in Macau in BALLAD OF A SMALL PLAYER, Buckley as Agnes Shakespeare grieving her son in HAMNET.
Watch now at irishfilmtv.com.
From FAIR CITY to KNIVES OUT! Daryl McCormack shines in the new #netflix film WAKE UP DEAD MAN.
McCormack just wrapped Netflix`s PRIDE AND PREJUDICE opposite Jack Lowden, Emma Corrin, and Olivia Colman. Talk about range: trading viral grift for Jane Austen elegance. Same actor, different century, wildly different moral compass.
More Daryl at irishfilmtv.com.
Eve Hewson brings ghosts to life in Noah Baumbach`s JAY KELLY.
From her breakout in THIS MUST BE THE PLACE to BAD SISTERS and beyond, she`s now haunting George Clooney as Daphne—a face from the past that forces a movie star to confront who he became while chasing fame.
More Eve at irishfilmtv.com.
When the past catches up with you in Amsterdam 🌊
Ciarán Hinds and Lesley Manville star in MIDWINTER BREAK—a retired couple`s winter getaway becomes a reckoning with memories they`ve tried to outrun for decades, in theatres Feb 20.
New trailer at irishfilmtv.com.
