Angelina Jolie's Godmother Jacqueline Bisset Presents Her with an Award in Sweet Moment at Palm Springs Film Festival

Angelina Jolie’s award ceremony was even more special because it was hosted by her godmother, Jacqueline Bisset.

Bisset, 80, lovingly introduced Jolie, 49, at the Palm Springs International Film Festival’s film awards ceremony on Friday, January 3, praising the Oscar winner’s work in the film Maria . For her starring role as opera star Maria Callas, Jolie received the Desert Palm Achievement Award at the event.

“It’s such a thrill to be here with you tonight to present this award to Angelina Jolie, who just so happens to be my goddaughter, and whose mother, Marcheline, was one of my dearest friends,” the British actress said on stage at the Palm Springs Convention Center.

Bisset added that she was “immensely proud” of Jolie in her career as both a humanitarian and an “exceptional mother”.

Bisset presented Jolie with the Desert Palm Achievement Award at the Palm Springs International Film Awards in California on January 3.

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty

In her speech, Jolie thanked Bisset along with those she worked with Maria “for allowing me to have a voice and to find mine again.”

She continued: “I am very grateful to our director, Pablo Larrain. I was so scared to do this film…it was a privilege to be on this journey with you. The freedom of expression and creation is the greatest.”

Inside Angelina Jolie’s Paris Trip With Godmother Jacqueline Bisset: ‘They’re Very Close’

Jolie, who attended the ceremony with her daughter Zahara, 19, added about her portrayal of Maria Callas: “Callas was loved. But Maria was often alone. But I’m fine because when I get off this stage, I’m more myself because you, Zahara, and your brothers and sisters.”

She held her trophy backstage at the awards show as she posed for a photo alongside Bisset.

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For his role in MariaJolie has earned recognition this awards season at the Gotham Awards, Golden Globes, Critics Choice Awards and more.

Of his honor at the Palm Springs Film Festival awards ceremony, Festival President Nachhattar Singh Chandi said in a statement, “Maria presents the legendary Angelina Jolie in the role of a lifetime embodying Maria Callas, the world-famous opera legend. Jolie’s remarkable portrait captures the heart and complexity of an artist whose life was as captivating as her music.”

Jolie, her daughter Zahara Marley Jolie and Bisset at the Palm Springs International Film Awards on January 3.

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Angelina Jolie was unaware of how much she ‘lost her voice’ after her mother’s death and ‘When Someone Hurts Me’

Accepting Gothams’ Performer Tribute in December, Jolie cheered for her mother Marcheline Bertrand, who died in 2007 at age 56 after a battle with ovarian cancer.

In 2021, Bisset revealed to PEOPLE that Jolie’s mother asked her to be “godmother while Angie was in the womb.”

She said the two became close friends “around 1971 during filming Game over with director Maximilian Schell and [Jolie’s father] Jon Voight, who [Bertrand] was married at the time.”

Among her more than 100 film and TV roles, Bisset once almost co-starred with her godson and Brad Pitt in 2005. Mr. and Mrs. Smith. However, after she shot her short scenes, the part was reworked and reworked.

Maria it’s now in theaters and streaming on Netflix.

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Source: HIS Education