The Hollywood Creative Alliance has announced their honorary award recipients for the 2024 Astra Film Awards, which will take place on Sunday, December 8, 2024, at the Taglyan Complex in Los Angeles. The awards ceremony will be live-streamed on KNEKT.tv and the Official Astra Awards YouTube Channel. LA Magazine will serve as the official media partner for the event.
Searchlight Pictures’ A Complete Unknown star Monica Barbaro will be the recipient of this year’s Astra Breakthrough Award. Barbaro, who recently received high praise for her role opposite Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick and in the Spirit Award-winning The Cathedral, delivers a star-making turn as the iconic folk singer and activist Joan Baez. Since the film’s very first screening, Barbaro has received rave reviews from critics and Academy members alike, with many calling her performance “incredible” and “one that deserves to be in the Supporting Actress conversation.”
Karla Sofía Gascón will receive this year’s Astra Game Changer Award. Her most recent performance in Jacques Audiard’s Emilia Pérez is one of the most transformative performances of the year. Seen first as a tattooed cartel boss seeking a new identity and the affirmation of the gender she wishes to express, Gascón reappears as someone finally free to discover who she is. Through song and meaningful exchanges with those around, both a close advisor and the family who don’t realize who she is, Gascón creates a mesmerizing portrait of a person defined by a desire to right the wrongs inflicted by her past self. At this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Gascón became the first openly trans actor to ever win a major prize, which she shared with her Pérez co-stars, Selena Gomez, Zoe Saldaña, and Adriana Paz.
Nickel Boys Cinematographer Jomo Fray will be the recipient of this year’s Artisan Spotlight Award. Over the past decade, Fray has worked on over 40 different film and television projects including Tayarisha Poe’s Selah and the Spades, Barry Jenkins’ The Underground Railroad, and Raven Jackson’s All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt. A Film Independent Fellow, Fray has a vibrant passion for experiential storytelling and enjoys challenging the viewer by making them not only see the story but feel it as well. His most recent work on RaMell Ross’Nickel Boys has earned him a New York Film Critics Circle Award and a Film Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Cinematography. With a strong vision and dedication to innovative and evocative visual storytelling, Fray has quickly become one of the most exciting cinematographers working in cinema today.
Actress-turned-writer/director Jennifer Esposito will receive this year’s Astra Filmmaker on the Rise Award. Esposito’s breakthrough acting role came in 1999 when she starred alongside John Leguizamo and Adrien Brody in Spike Lee’s Summer of Sam. In 2023, Jennifer wrote, directed, produced, co-starred, and majority funded her feature film debut, Fresh Kills, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. Fresh Kills won the Audience Award at The Hamptons International Film Festival in 2023, the Excellence in Directing Award from NYWIF, the Best Feature and Best Cast from The Annapolis Film Festival, and the Artistic Director’s Award from the San Diego International Film Festival.
“These honorees represent a small sample of the best in the industry today, working hard to make projects that matter and delivering unforgettable stories and performances that will stand the test of time,” notes HCA Founder Scott Menzel. “Whether these films are seen on the festival circuit, in a theater with a crowd, or the comfort of our homes, these honorees exemplify what the Astras seek to honor year after year: an undeniable love of the craft that demands to be celebrated.“
Additionally, the Astras have revealed a partial list of the evening’s presenters, which include Ernie Hudson (Ghostbusters), Kyriana Kratter (Star Wars: Skeleton Crew), Milauna Jackson (The Six Triple Eight), Anjali Bhimani (Ms. Marvel), Karen David (The Irrational), Patrick Seitz (One Piece), Robert McCollum (Attack on Titan), Trina Nishimura (Attack on Titan), Jennifer Hale (X-Men’97), Lenore Zann (X-Men ‘97), Jackie Tohn (Nobody Wants This), Karen Huger (The Real Housewives of Potomac), Chris Sullivan (Presence), Chris Mason (Dune: Prophecy), Joey Vahedi (The Chosen), Luke Dimyan (The Chosen), Cedric Yarbrough (Juror #2), Trisha LaFache (Jury Duty), and Montana Jacobowitz (South Park).
About The Astra Awards:
The Astra Awards recognize and celebrate the best in film, television, and the creative arts. Members of the Hollywood Creative Alliance, a 501 c6 membership-based, not-for-profit organization, vote on the awards. The organization’s diverse and inclusive membership includes critics, entertainment journalists, content creators, industry insiders, and creatives with a shared passion for celebrating excellence in film and television.
