Rebecca Miller to pick up Maureen O' Hara Award

Robin Wright Penn, Rebecca Miller and Keanu Reeves

The Kerry Film Festival, which is celebrating ten years of bringing film to Kerry, today announced that Rebecca Miller is to receive an award at the Kerry Film Festival, which runs from October 31st to November 7th.

The award is named in honour of one of the most glamorous leading ladies of Hollywood's golden era, Maureen O' Hara.

"It's an honour to have Rebecca Miller pick up the Award." said Maureen O'Hara. "Rebecca is a wonderful director and it is magnificent to see such a strong character having success in film. One more example of the incredible talent present in today's Ireland. I am absolutely delighted that Rebecca will accept this award and I wish her the very best in her career, in film, and most importantly, in life with her husband and young family."

Rebecca Miller worked as a painter and an actress before becoming a writer and director. She is the author of the short story collection, Personal Velocity (2001), and the novel, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee. For the film version of PERSONAL VELOCITY (2002), she won several awards, including the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. She has also written and directed the award-winning films ANGELA (1995), THE BALLAD OF JACK AND ROSE (2005), which starred her husband Daniel Day Lewis, and again premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and this year's THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE (2009).

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee was her first novel and has been published in 30 countries. The film version was released earlier this year, playing at the prestigious Toronto Film Festival, and had a cast that includes Robin Wright Penn, Keanu Reeves, Julianne Moore, Alan Arkin and Winona Ryder.

Rebecca Miller lives in Ireland and New York with her family.

While Maureen O' Hara was undoubtedly one of Hollywood's best loved actresses, she was much more than just a pretty face. When Maureen became an American citizen on January 25, 1946 she retained her Irish citizenship, which was the first time in history that the United States government recognized an Irish citizen as Irish and it led to a change in process for all Irish immigrants. Maureen was also the first female CEO of an American airline company. Whether in the movies, in politics or in business Maureen demonstrated a quality for leadership and a bravery that was extraordinary and Rebecca Miller displays many of the same characteristics.

Maureen currently lives in County Cork and to honour her Kerry Film Festival is screening the John Ford classic THE QUIET MAN.

The Maureen O' Hara Award acknowledges women that have demonstrated outstanding leadership in their respective fields and Rebecca Miller is a most worthy recipient. The award giving will take place at the Kerry Film Festival Awards Ceremony at Fels Point Hotel in Tralee on Saturday, November 7th at 4:00 pm.

The Award Ceremony is the culmination of a week of films at Kerry Film Festival. The Awards ceremony will also feature the screening of award winning short films as adjudicated by Kerry Film Festival's panel of judges Jeremy Irons, Michael Fassbender, Simon Brown and James Christopher.