During next year’s Palm Springs International Film Awards, the 51-year-old actor and director will receive the Desert Palm Achievement Award for his performance in the critically acclaimed 2025 movie “One Battle After Another,” officials announced Tuesday.

The awards will take place on Jan. 3, 2026 at the Convention Center at 277 N. Avenida Caballeros, with the accompanying film festival running from Jan. 2-12.

From Warner Bros. Pictures, “One Battle After Another” was written, directed and produced by Paul Thomas Anderson. It follows washed-up revolutionary Bob (DiCaprio) who exists in a state of stoned paranoia, surviving off-grid with his spirited, self-reliant daughter, Willa (Chase Infiniti). When his evil nemesis (Sean Penn) resurfaces after 16 years, she goes missing, and the former radical scrambles to find her, as father and daughter both battle the consequences of his past.

In what some describe as the greatest car chase scene in cinema since 1971’s “The French Connection,” the California desert takes center stage in a climatic “One Battle After Another” finale . A hilly road known as the Texas Dip in Borrego Springs was the chase’s shooting location. The film crew called the spot the River of Hills. It’s situated near Highway 78 and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Road.

Unlike other turbo-charged chase scenes in movie history, the speed is slow in the desert pursuit — prolonging the adrenaline rush.

“In ‘One Battle After Another,’ Leonardo DiCaprio delivers a riveting and emotionally charged performance, embodying a man pushed to his breaking point in the face of relentless adversity,” Festival Chairman Nachhattar Singh Chandi said. “Across his career, DiCaprio, has continually redefined what is possible in screen acting— bringing emotional depth, artistic integrity, and fearless commitment to every role.”

Past recipients of the Desert Palm Achievement Award include Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”), Jeff Bridges (“Crazy Heart”), Adrien Brody (“The Brutalist”) and Bradley Cooper (“Silver Linings Playbook”).

DiCaprio has been nominated for seven Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards, 11 Screen Actors Guild Awards, 13 Golden Globe awards and won an Academy Award for his performance in 2015’s “The Revenant.”

He began his film career in the 1990s, with early roles including “This Boy’s Life” and “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” before gaining worldwide superstardom with 1997’s smash “Titanic.”

He has since earned critical acclaim for films such as “The Departed,” “The Aviator,” “Inception” and “Wolf of Wall Street.”

DiCaprio also advocates for climate change through his production company, Appian Way, which has produced numerous documentaries, including “Ice on Fire” and “Path of the Panther.” Additionally, he is a founding board member of Re:wild, a brand aimed at protecting and restoring the diversity of life on Earth through collaborations.

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For the last few years, the Oscar-winning filmmaker has said that he has plans to take back from directing movies once he releases his 10^th film. This new movie called “Once upon a time in Hollywood” is his 9^th, and according to The Hollywood Reporter, this movie is “Critics highly praise Tarantino’s love letter to ’60s L.A.” and the movie all over the world. In this film, Tarantino shows us why he fell in love with the cinema as a kid. It’s stunning, and the cast is impeccable.

With top-rated performances as Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, Margot Robbie, and many others, this comedy-drama film sets in Hollywood 1969, where Rick Dalton and his stunt double and best friend Cliff Booth (DiCaprio and Pitt), make their way around the final years of Hollywood’s Golden Age.  Margot Robbie plays Sharon Tate a rising star among in Hollywood.

Let’s remember that 1969 was the year when the Manson Family committed their murders, and in the movie, we can take a look at Charles’ and his cult. Though the movie is not focused on these murderers, they play an important role in the film.

Once upon a time in Hollywood is perfectly enjoyable, and it has Tarantino’s distinctive clever and a little dark humor. Glamorous, marvelous, and exquisite is how critics have described this Tarantino’s 9^th film. Quentin has a unique talent to choose wisely the actors that’ll play on his movies, and that is why this movie is excellent in any way you see it. It may not be Tarantino’s best movie, but it will surely become one of them. 

Tarantino is the best example that it doesn’t matter where you come from; you can make your way to the top. Even if some fans are not happy with Tarantino’s choice of retiring after his 10^th movie, we all want to see what he can do next, because every film he makes is a masterpiece of its own.

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