Academy Award® nominated actress Andra Day and director Lee Daniels to receive prestigious honor on behalf of Hulu Original film ‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday’

LOS ANGELES – March 29, 2021 – Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival, the annual Silicon Valley festival that fuses innovation and creation, along with Stand Up To Cancer® (SU2C) announce the launch of their inaugural Laura Ziskin Visionary Award. The award will recognize leaders in the film industry whose work exemplifies groundbreaking collaboration.

The award is named after the late legendary film producer, and co-founder of Stand Up To Cancer, Laura Ziskin. Her trailblazing career spanned 35 years, with credits including What About Bob?, The Doctor, No Way Out, Pretty Woman, To Die For, As Good As It Gets as well as Spiderman, Spiderman 2 and 3. As the founding president of Fox 2000, she shepherded such films as The Thin Red Line, Fight Club, Soul Food, and Courage Under Fire. Ziskin passed away from breast cancer in June 2011, after living courageously with the disease for seven years.

This year’s recipients of the inaugural Laura Ziskin Visionary Award will be Academy Award® nominated actress Andra Day and director Lee Daniels for their collaboration on the Hulu Original Film The United States vs. Billie Holiday. The award will be presented on March 31 by Stand Up To Cancer co-founder Katie Couric and will be followed by a panel discussion with Daniels and Day.

“The power of creativity can team with science to help eradicate cancer. Cinequest is deeply honored to partner with Stand Up To Cancer presenting an award to encourage visionary thinking and action in the creative arts and science” said Halfdan Hussey, CEO & Co-Founder, Cinequest & Creatics

“We are incredibly thankful to Cinequest for creating the Laura Ziskin Visionary Award,” said Rusty Robertson, co-founder of Stand Up To Cancer. “Laura’s passion for film was only surpassed by her passion to end this terrible disease. She was a true visionary who believed that collaboration was key to innovation, and I know she would be proud to have her legacy live on with this award.”

To learn more about how to stream the award presentation and panel discussion, visit Creatics.org/Cinejoy.

The Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival is currently running from March 20-30.

About Cinequest Film & Creativity Festival

Voted Best Film Festival by USA Today Readers, the 2020 edition of Cinequest did as much with Film & Technology as ever while expanding to include additional creative experiences such as virtual and augmented realities, fashion, writing, television, dance, art & design, a creativity summit, and more!

Set in the home of the world’s most influential media technology companies (Apple, Cisco, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, LinkedIn, Zoom etc…) Cinequest empowers global connectivity between creators, innovators, youth, and audiences. Cinequest has led the world in its showcase and implementation of the innovations that have revolutionized creativity and filmed media.

Over 110,000 attend Cinequest from all walks of life, connecting with great art, tech and each other. Cinequest’s renowned hospitality makes the festival experience as warm and personal as it is electrifying. Cinequest presents 300 films and virtual-augmented reality (130+ of which are World and U.S. Premieres), groundbreaking innovations, creativity forums—plus fashion, writing, comedy, dance, music, and art. 1,100 artists, innovators, and youth present from over 50 countries each year.

Cinequest’s highest honor, the Maverick Award, recognizes bold, visionary and creative forces—exemplary in the worlds of Silicon Valley innovation and the creative arts. Its Maverick Spirit Awards recognizes artists (Nicolas Cage, Harrison Ford, Tatiana Maslany, J.J. Abrams, Rosario Dawson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ben Kingsley, and Sir Ian McKellen are amongst the guest recipients). Its Maverick Innovator Award recognizes technologists (including Martin Cooper, father of the cell phone). A Maverick stands apart from the crowd willing to create and innovate from a place of personal yet global vision.

About Stand Up To Cancer

Stand Up To Cancer® (SU2C) raises funds to accelerate the pace of research to get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives now. SU2C, a division of the Entertainment Industry Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, was established in 2008 by media and entertainment leaders who utilize these communities’ resources to engage the public in supporting a new, collaborative model of cancer research, to increase awareness about cancer prevention, and to highlight progress being made in the fight against the disease. As of January 2021, more than 1,950 scientists representing more than 210 institutions are involved in SU2C-funded research projects.

Under the direction of our Scientific Advisory Committee, led by Nobel laureate Phillip A. Sharp, Ph.D., SU2C operates rigorous competitive review processes to identify the best research proposals to recommend for funding, oversee grants administration, and ensure collaboration across research programs.

Current members of the SU2C Founders and Advisors Committee (FAC) include Katie Couric, Sherry Lansing, Kathleen Lobb, Lisa Paulsen, Rusty Robertson, Sue Schwartz, Pamela Oas Williams, and Ellen Ziffren. The late Laura Ziskin and the late Noreen Fraser are also co-founders. Sung Poblete, Ph.D., R.N., serves as SU2C’s CEO.

For more information, visit StandUpToCancer.org.

Media Contacts:

Stand Up To Cancer            ID PR
Fiona McRobert                   su2c@id-pr.com
fmcrobert@su2c.org           212-334-3333