LA nonprofit Outfest will honor Academy Award nominee Lisa Cholodenko and Academy Award winner Tom Hanks at the 2015 Legacy Awards on Thursday, November 5 in Los Angeles.
Hanks will be honored with the Trailblazer Award in recognition of his Oscar-winning role as a man grappling with HIV/AIDS in Jonathan Demme’s “Philadelphia” (1993). This was one of the first major studio pictures to sympathetically portray a character with AIDS. (“Philadelphia” screenwriter Ron Nyswaner wrote 2015 TIFF premiere “Freeheld,” starring Julianne Moore and Ellen Page as a lesbian couple fighting for their rights.)
Cholodenko, up for Emmys this year for her masterful HBO miniseries “Olive Kitteridge,” is receiving the Visionary Award, which recognizes artistic and creative contributions to LGBT media visibility. Her films include Oscar-nominee “The Kids Are All Right,” about a lesbian-parented family, and breakout debut “High Art.”
The Legacy Awards serve as a fundraiser to support the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year as the largest archive of LGBT moving images in the world, with over 35,000 items.
Previous Legacy Award winners include Armistead Maupin, Hilary Swank, Lee Daniels, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, Roland Emmerich and Paris Barclay.
READ MORE: Lesbian Oscar Contenders Ape the Hetero Hollywood Age Gap
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
