Photo by L. Cohen/WireImage.com
Photo by L. Cohen/WireImage.com

The 24th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival will present Academy Award winning director Robert Zemeckis with the Director of the Year Award for Flight.

Presented by Cartier, the Awards Gala will be held Saturday, January 5, at the Palm Springs Convention Center.

Hosted by ex-ET Host Mary Hart, the Awards Gala will also present awards to honorees Helen Hunt and Naomi Watts.  The Festival runs January 3-14.

Robert Zemeckis won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a Director’s Guild of America Award for Best Director for the hugely successful Forrest Gump.

Zemeckis has also directed Cast Away, What Lies Beneath, Back to the Future, Back to the Future, Part II and Part III, Contact, Used Cars, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, The Polar Express, Beowulf and A Christmas Carol.

Presently, Zemeckis is at work on Yellow Submarine, for Image Movers Digital and The Disney Studios.