Outspoken Oscar-winning actor and director Sean Penn made a call for people to ditch political correctness and truly embrace diversity in thought and action as he received a career honor at the Marrakech Film Festival on Saturday evening.
Italian actor Valeria Golino, who has been close to Penn ever since appearing in his 1991 directorial feature debut The Indian Runner, presented the Oscar winner with the award.
The ceremony was attended by a raft of cinema heavyweights including this year’s festival jury president Luca Guadagnino, Alfonso Cuarón, Walter Salles, Monica Bellucci, Tim Burton, Justin Kurzel, Jeff Nichols, and Cannes Film Festival President Iris Knobloch among others.
“For those of you with any familiarity with me, and what has been my life, you will understand that I don’t often miss the opportunity to say an opinion, and I have one tonight in celebration of this incredible group of people that this festival brings together,” said Penn.
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The actor went on to make a reference to a 2028 Monk debate in Toronto which UK actor Stephen Fry argued against political correctness, saying it was fuelling a culture war and extremes of thought on all sides.
“I think it’s our job to exploit our diversity in positive ways, and to stand up for it, to embody it,” said Penn.
“While Stephen is a very progressive minded person, what he criticized in the liberals on the other side for was that liberalism has become not only in the United States but around the world, this demand for diversity, but not diversity of behavior and not diversity of opinion or language. I would just encourage everybody to be as politically incorrect as their heart desires and to engage diversity and keep telling those stories,” he added.
As part of the tribute the festival is playing a selection of Penn’s films, kicking off on Saturday evening with Gus Van Sant’s 2008 Milk about gay rights California gay rights activist Harvey Milk.
The ceremony also screened a tribute reel celebrating highlights of Penn’s career spanning 74 acting credits such as Mystic River, I Am Sam, 21 Grams, Dead Man Walking and 15 films, including his recent Ukraine doc Superpower and Flag Day.
Golino gave a stirring personal tribute to Penn and his qualities both as an actor, director and human being.
“Sean Penn is a man of extraordinary charisma, with a whole personality and a volcanic temperament. It was obvious from his very first films that Sean Penn was not just an actor. Far from the classic figure of the pretty face, he deliberately choses roles with difficult political and social realities,” she said.
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