34th Palm Springs International Film Festival

The 34th Palm Springs International Film Festival took place from January 5 to 16, 2023, in Palm Springs, California, United States. The festival opened with the world premiere of Kyle Marvin's comedy film 80 for Brady and closed with Stephen Frears' biographical film The Lost King.

Background and special awards
Throughout December 2022, several special awards were announced, which were presented at the Opening Gala on January 5, 2023, at the Palm Springs Convention Center. Actors Austin Butler and Danielle Deadwyler were honored with the Breakthrough Performance Award, for their performances in Elvis and for Till, respectively. Steven Spielberg's The Fabelmans received the Vanguard Award, Brendan Fraser received the Spotlight Award, Sarah Polley received the Director of the Year award for Women Talking and Viola Davis received the chairman's Award. Desert Palm Achievement Awards were presented to Cate Blanchett for Tár and Colin Farrell for The Banshees of Inisherin, while Michelle Yeoh and Bill Nighy received the International Star Actress and International Star Actor awards respectively.

The following day, on January 6, the Variety's 10 Directors to Watch brunch took place at the Parker Palm Springs, where four Creative Impact awards were presented: Creative Impact in Acting Award to Angela Bassett; Creative Impact in Screenwriting Award to Rian Johnson; Creative Impact in Directing Award to Baz Luhrmann; and Creative Impact in Breakthrough Performance Award to Brian Tyree Henry for Causeway.

Juries
The juries consists of the following members:

FIPRESCI International Film Jury

 * Robert Horton, historian and programmer at Scarecrow Video Project and member of the National Society of Film Critics.
 * Andrew Kendall, Head of the Department of Language and Cultural Studies at the University of Guyana.
 * Anders Larsson, Swedish critic, poet and festival director of Lund Fantastic Film Festival

Ibero-American Jury

 * Manuel Betancourt, Colombian culture writer.
 * Trey Shields, programmer of the Philadelphia Film Society and Philadelphia Film Festival.
 * Rebecca Sun, senior editor of diversity and inclusion at The Hollywood Reporter.

Documentary Jury

 * Diana Cadavid, Colombian-Canadian film curator and International Programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival.
 * Amir George, American filmmaker.
 * Robin Robinson, Senior Programmer at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival.

New Voices New Visions

 * Violet Lucca, web editor and digital director at Harper's Magazine.
 * Monica Trasandes, Uruguayan-American director of Spanish-Language & Latinx Media & Representation at GLAAD.
 * Lauren Wissot, film critic, journalist, filmmaker and programmer.

Bridging the Borders

 * Keely Badger, Executive Director of MOZAIK.
 * Bambadjan Bamba, actor, filmmaker and immigrant rights advocate.
 * Marcy Garriott, independent documentary filmmaker.
 * Vladek Juszkiewicz, founder of the Polish Film Festival Los Angeles.
 * Granaz Moussavi, Iranian writer and literary critic
 * Bijan Tehrani, founder and director of I, Immigrant and founder of Cinema Without Borders (CWB) and CineEqual.

Sections
The films selected for each section are as follows:

Awards Buzz – Best International Feature Film Submissions
The following section consists of submissions for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards:
 * Highlighted title indicates Òrbita winner.

Talking Pictures
The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Talking Pictures section, each with discussion panels with their directors, writers and actors:

Modern Masters
The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Modern Masters section, consisting of new films by well-established directors:

New Voices New Visions
The following films were selected to be screened as part of the New Voices New Visions section:
 * Highlighted title indicates Òrbita winner.

True Stories
The following films were selected to be screened as part of the True Stories section:
 * Highlighted title indicates Òrbita winner.

Cine Latino
The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Cine Latino section:
 * Highlighted title indicates Òrbita winner.

Queer Cinema Today & The Gayla
The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Queer Cinema Today section and The Gayla:

World Cinema Now
The following films were selected to be screened as part of the World Cinema Now section:

Local Spotlight
The following films were selected to be screened as part of the Local Spotlight section:

Awards
The following awards were presented at the 34th Edition:

International Film competition

 * Best International Feature Film: Saint Omer
 * Best Actor in a International Feature Film: Ali Junejo for Joyland
 * Best Actress in a International Feature Film: Oksana Cherkashina for Klondike
 * Best International Screenplay: Arnau Vilaró and Carla Simón for Alcarràs

Ibero-American Competition

 * Ibero-American Award: 1976 by Manuela Martelli
 * Ibero-American Special Mention: Blanquita by Fernando Guzzoni

Documentary competition

 * Best Documentary: To Kill a Tiger by Nisha Pahuja
 * Special Mention: Butterfly in the Sky by Bradford Thomason, Brett Whitcomb

New Voices New Visions

 * New Voices New Visions Award: The Damned Don't Cry by Fyzal Boulifa
 * New Voices New Visions Special Mention: Our Father, the Devil by Ellie Foumbi

Local Jury

 * Local Jury Award: Liquor Store Dreams by So Yun Um
 * Local Jury Special Mention: Mama Bears by Daresha Kyi

Other awards

 * Young Cineastes Award: Riceboy Sleeps by Anthony Shim
 * MOZAIK Bridging the Borders Award: Dirty, Difficult, Dangerous by Wissam Charaf
 * Special Mention: The Happiest Man in the World by Teona Strugar Mitevska