By Noma Faingold

Hollywood’s award season has begun, culminating with the Academy Awards next March. SFFILM’s annual Awards Night on Dec. 8 is an early stop and proven momentum builder during the circuit.

Director of programming at SFFILM and Outer Sunset District resident, Jessie Fairbanks, starts her preparation to secure the four recipients in June by reaching out to studios and the teams behind the talent.

“We have great relationships with every single studio and rights holder. A lot of the award campaigns know about us,” Fairbanks said. “San Francisco is well placed because there is such a large film community here.”

At last year’s gala fundraiser, the non-profit organization honored four artists, including actress Demi Moore (“The Substance”) and director Denis Vileneuve (the “Dune” franchise).

“It is about celebrating four distinct individuals, who are at the height of their craft,” Fairbanks said. “It’s storytellers who bring a story to life through performing, directing, screenwriting or someone who has multiple roles.”

This year, the awardees are: Benicio Del Toro (“One Battle After Another” and “The Phoenician Scheme”) with the Maria Manetti Shrem Award for Acting; Scott Cooper (“Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere”) with the Irving M. Levin Award for Film Direction; actress Kristen Stewart (who directed “The Chronology of Water”) with the Nion McEvoy & Leslie Berriman Award for Storytelling; and actress Wunmi Mosaku (“Sinners”) with the George Gund III Award for Virtuosity.

This year’s Awards Night is the fifth for Fairbanks. As director of programming, her primary focus is to curate the San Francisco International Film Festival, held in April, and Doc Stories, a mini-festival in early November.

“I love this event. It gives me a chance to use other muscles than what I do with my team for the festivals,” she said. “Awards Night takes an incredible amount of preparation and a lot of coordination. What is a challenge is that we’re chasing some of the biggest names in the industry.”

Past recipients include actors Harrison Ford, Oscar Isaac, Margot Robbie, Adam Driver, Nicolas Cage, Annette Bening and Glenn Close. Directors honored include Spike Lee, Chloe Zhao, Akira Kurasawa, Greta Gerwig and Bay Area residents Francis Ford Coppola and Ryan Coogler.

Fairbanks works closely with SFFILM’s Executive Director Anne Lai for months to select the Awards Night lineup. Fairbanks joked that she spends more time with Lai than her husband during award season. She sets up Zoom meetings in June with key reps of talent that SFFILM may want to pursue. In July and August, Fairbanks and Lai screen films, often long before their release.

“We like to identify the recipients before there’s any press, before anything can affect our judgement,” she said. “We are looking to celebrate individuals based on merit, on our own curatorial knowledge and acumen. We consider ourselves to be tastemakers and influencers.”

When Fairbanks saw “The Substance,” she immediately let Lai know that they should give Moore the acting award, even though the independent body horror film wouldn’t necessarily be an obvious choice. “Her performance was absolutely incredible,” she said. “The bravery for her to attack such a meta topic of someone who has been in the limelight, in Hollywood for so long, where she is constantly assessed for her beauty, her youth and her vigor.”

Fairbanks said she was taken by Moore’s decades of persistence in the business, which is notorious for forgetting, if not discarding leading actresses as they grow older.

“She threw herself into this role,” she said. “We wanted to honor somebody who is very well known but never really got her due.”

Moore’s poignant acceptance speech was the foundation of the memorable speech she gave when she won the Golden Globe later in the award season.

“She talked about how she was feeling like she no longer belonged in the industry, that maybe her time was over. The film gave her an opportunity to dig into a very meaty role,” Fairbanks said. “She didn’t know what was going to happen, but she gave it her all. Now she feels like there is a place for her and she can find a different pathway to new roles. It was a rebirth for her.”

In 2023, when Fairbanks saw “American Fiction” before its release, she decided that Cord Jefferson, a relatively unknown screenwriter (making his film directorial debut), should be awarded the George Gund III Award for Virtuosity, which honors an artist’s breakthrough.

“We were the first to put an award in front of him. We didn’t know what would happen. But we were so thrilled to have him,” she said.

What happened was Jefferson won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (based on the novel, “Erasure,” by Percival Everett).

At Awards Night, Jefferson’s speech was humble, weaving longtime SFFILM supporter and champion of the arts, Gund, into his address, drawing parallels to his journey of finding someone who green lit his project, after several rejections.

“He did some research on Gund. It was a great speech because Cord is a great writer,” Fairbanks said.

The format of SFFILM Awards Night begins with a press line, followed by a reception attended by the awardees. It gives local Academy voters a chance to meet the individuals being honored. San Francisco is considered an important stop during award season because of its rich filmmaking history in the Bay Area and the fact that the region has the third largest contingent of Academy voters in the world.

Next are dinner and the awards ceremony. There is also a paddle raise to fund the organization’s year-round mission of artist development, education and promoting film through presenting festivals and community events.

Fairbanks and Lai said they put a lot of thought into selecting the award presenters. Oakland-based stage and screen actor/director Delroy Lindo, graduate of San Francisco State University and the American Conservatory Theater, will introduce “Sinners” co-star Mosaku to the room. Regina Hall, who co-starred with Del Toro in “One Battle After Another,” will bestow his award.

“Presenters are so important because we want the awardees to be given an award by a collaborator, preferably with their film that they are being celebrated for,” Fairbanks said. “We want it to be from someone who knows them well, who cares about them deeply and who can speak eloquently about their craft.”

This year’s event is expected to attract up to 400 guests. Groups in the industry and corporate partners buy tables for $10,000 and $5,000 for a half-table. Those ticket tiers have sold out. Board members also contribute to the fundraising efforts. Individual tickets are sold, as well.

“It is important that everybody in the room feels like they are in a front-row seat,” Fairbanks said. “It’s important that people feel invigorated with the joy and the infectious spirit of how we can be transported through cinema.”

SFFILM’s 60th Awards Night will be held on Dec. 8, at The Gateway Pavilion, Pier 2, Fort Mason, at 6 p.m. (cocktail reception), 7 p.m. dinner and awards program. Tickets: awardsnight@sffilm.org.