Martin McDonagh to Receive Outstanding Achievement in Directing Award at Palm Springs International Film Festival (Exclusive)

Wild Horse Nine writer and director Martin McDonagh will receive the Outstanding Achievement in Directing Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the Palm Springs International Film Awards announced on Thursday.

The Film Awards will take place on Jan. 7, 2027, with the festival running from Jan. 7 to Jan. 18.

“Martin McDonagh remains one of our most distinctive and original voices in cinema today,” Festival Chairman Nachhattar Singh Chandi says. “Over the course of his celebrated career, he has built a body of work that is humorous, timely and morally complex. Wild Horse Nine is another testament to his singular vision, and we are honored to recognize him and his extraordinary film with the Outstanding Achievement in Directing Award.”

Wild Horse Nine stars John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as CIA agents who set out to Easter Island shortly before the 1973 Chilean coup to confront their dark pasts. Their trip gets turned upside down when they meet a pair of rebellious students, played by Mariana di Girolamo and Ailin Salas.

McDonagh is an award-winning filmmaker and playwright whose credits include In Bruges, Seven Psychopaths, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Banshees of Inisherin. For Three Billboards and Banshees, he received Oscar nominations for best picture, best director for Banshees, and best original screenplay for In Bruges, Three Billboards and Banshees. He has also won six BAFTAs and three Golden Globes.

McDonagh joins this year’s previously announced Vanguard Award recipient The Invite, with Seth Rogen, Olivia Wilde, Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton will collect. Past director award recipients include Jane Campion (The Power of the Dog), Alejandro G. Iñárritu (Babel, Birdman), Greta Gerwig (Barbie), Steve McQueen (12 Years a Slave), Sarah Polley (Women Talking), David O. Russell (The Fighter), Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and Chloé Zhao (Nomadland).