Empire Produces The Film Society of Lincoln Center's Annual Chaplin Award Tribute Gala, Honoring Sidney Poitier

In May 2011, Empire Entertainment returned to Alice Tully Hall to produce the Film Society of Lincoln Center's annual Chaplin Award Tribute Gala. This year's star-studded Gala, the 38th annual, honored Academy Award winner Sidney Poitier. 
The Film Society's Annual Gala Tribute began in 1972 and honored Charles Chaplin – who returned to the US from exile to accept the commendation. Since then, the award has honored many of film's visionary talents, including Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Laurence Olivier, Federico Fellini, Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Davis, James Stewart, Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese, Diane Keaton, Meryl Streep, Michael Douglas and Tom Hanks. 

This year's gala evening began with VIP cocktails in the Hauser Patron's Lounge in Alice Tully Hall and was followed by a seated dinner in the glass-walled atrium. For the dinner, Empire worked closely with Gala Co-Chair Liz Swig and the Film Society of Lincoln center’s events team to design a striking black & white abstract pattern that was printed on the surface of each dinner table and mirrored on the facades of bars and other event furnishings. Following dinner the 1000+ guests entered the Starr Theater for the all-star tribute program. The program began with a video retrospective of the Chaplin Awards through the years followed by remarks from the event committee chair Ann Tenenbaum. At the conclusion of her remarks, Tenenbaum welcomed Bill Cosby to the stage where in his legendary comedic style he praised his friend Sidney Poitier while skewering him. The evening progressed with a series of heartfelt tributes interspersed by film clips of Sidney Poitier's work. The presenters included James Earl Jones, Chris Tucker, Mary Louise-Parker, Danny Glover, Ruby Dee, Morgan Freeman, Norman Jewison, Harry Belafonte, Quentin Tarantino, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, and a video greeting from Oprah Winfrey. The clips included highlights from "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner", "Blackboard Jungle", "Uptown Saturday Night", "The Defiant Ones", "A Raisin In The Sun", "Patch of Blue", and "In The Heat of the Night” among others.One of the many highlights of the evening were comedic remarks delivered by Dan Aykroyd and Sir Ben Kingsley in which they presented a slideshow comparing Poitier to other film icons such as John Wayne and Paul Newman. A surprise moment came following a film clip of "To Sir With Love" when Poitier's co-star and singer Lulu gave a powerful, yet intimate performance of the song before an ecstatic audience. As the final presenter of the evening, Quincy Jones at last presented Sidney Poitier with the Chaplin Award. Poitier then gave his heartfelt remarks and thanks with his trademark delivery while all of the evening's presenters stood by his side.The program was followed by a lively after-party in the transformed Atrium space that stretched late into the evening. For this high stature event Empire served as overall event producer and was responsible for aspects ranging from overall creative and production design, to coordinating with presenters and talent, working with Lincoln center to provide production design and supervision, working with the Film Society to develop the run of show and stage managing the event. Empire also designed and implemented all aspects of the red carpet and presenter arrivals, press and step & repeat, VIP cocktail party, dinner design & décor, catering, and after-party design. Empire is a leading producer of high-profile award and tribute programs and is frequently engaged to present programs with international stature talent & celebrities.To learn more about the Film Society of Lincoln Center and to become a donor, visit www.filmlinc.com