Karen Gillan to Receive Rising Star Award at 2017 Maui Film Festival

Scottish-born actress Karen Gillan will be the recipient of this year’s Rising Star Award at the 2017 Maui Film Festival taking place June 21-25, 2017, at the Wailea Resort on Maui.

Actress Karen Gillan arrives at the premiere of Disney and Marvel’s “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2” at Dolby Theatre on April 19, 2017 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images) via Maui Film Festival.

In May, Gillan reprised her memorable role of Nebula in Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.” She also wrapped production as the female lead in Sony’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” opposite Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The film will be released on Dec. 20th.

Recently, Gillan co-starred opposite Emma Watson and Tom Hanks in STX’s “The Circle,” which is adapted from Dave Eggers’ best-selling novel of the same name. Gillan has also just completed production on her feature film directorial debut, “The Party’s Just Beginning,” which she also wrote and in which she stars. Filmed in her hometown of Inverness, Scotland, the film follows the story of a girl named Lucy who is dealing with the suicide of her best friend.

Other previous TV/film credits include “In A Valley of Violence,” “The Big Short,” “Selfie,” “Doctor Who,” “We’ll Take Manhattan,” “Not Another Happy Ending,” and “Oculus.”

Barry Rivers, founder and director of the festival, said the Maui Film Festival Rising Star Award honors a young film artist whose every role, even in his or her formative years, surprises, enthralls and delights audiences of every age.

“Perfection and synchronicity in the Universe work in mysterious ways. Among them is the opportunity to honor Karen Gillan with the Maui Film Festival’s 2017 Rising Star Award—under the stars and lit by the moon at the Celestial Cinema—for the way her work has enriched us all through her eclectic and powerful performances to date and, I’m sure, in many triumphant decades yet to come,” noted Rivers.

Previous honorees include Scott Eastwood, Garrett Hedlund, Brie Larson, Teresa Palmer, Kelly Rohrbach and Wyatt Russell.

Gillan will be honored at the Maui Film Festival’s popular Celestial Cinema venue on Saturday, June 24th at the Waiela Gold and Emerald Golf Course.

*Click here for a complete lineup for the 2017 Celestial Cinema screenings.
*Click here for a complete lineup of the Maui Film Festival’s three “Taste” Events.

Tickets and passes are available at www.mauifilmfestival.com.