The CineVegas Film Festival is honoring Jon Voight with the Marquee Award and Willem Dafoe with the Vanguard Actors Award on Sunday, June 14, at the 11th annual event, which takes place at the Rain Nightclub in the Palms Resort in Las Vegas. George Kuchar and Mike Kuchar will receive the Directors Award, among other honorees.  

CineVegas is recognized as one of the most popular film festivals in the West. The festival, which recognizes legendary actors, directors and producers, also gives young and upcoming filmmakers an opportunity to showcase their productions.  

CineVegas runs from June 10–15 and it is open to the public. The festival’s series of films are being shown at Brendan Theaters at the Palms. Tickets range from one-day film screening passes for $40 up to $500 for an all-access pass.  

Honoree Voight received his acclaim in the 1960s Best Picture winner “Midnight Cowboy,” for which he earned an Academy award nomination. Veteran actor Voight enjoyed taking on other challenging roles, such as “Deliverance” and “Coming Home,” the film for which he received an Academy Award for Best Actor.  

Voight played Howard Cosell, the real-life sportscaster and journalist, in “Ali,” a role that earned him the fourth Oscar nomination. Voight is a humble and sensitive person who is always giving his time to worthy causes.  

He is currently starring in the seventh season of the hit TV drama “24” where he plays the villain Jonas Hodges. As part of the tribute, CineVegas is presenting the newly re-mastered director’s cut of “Lookin’ to Get Out” (1982), which was directed by Hal Ashby. Voight stars and co-wrote the film, which was made in Las Vegas. A Q&A with Voight and guests will follow the screening.  

Honoree Willem Dafoe, a two-time Academy Award nominated actor, who has appeared in more than 70 films, is a founding member of the Wooster Group, the New York-based experimental theater. Among his upcoming film releases are Lars Von Trier’s “Antichrist,” Werner Herzog’s “My Son, My Son” and Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” as well as “Day Breakers” and “Cirque du Freak.” A conversation with Dafoe will be held following the screening of his 1982 film “The Loveless.”  

The Kuchar brothers wrote fantastic melodramas and genre stories. Using their Bronx neighborhood and nearby places as staging spots. They used handmade props and costumes and enlisted their neighborhood friends as actors to play big film stars of the 1950s.  

The Kuchar’s classic films include “Hold Me While I’m Naked,” “Sins of the Fleshapoids” and “Summer of No Return.” Now in their 60s, they continue to produce videos and have made over 100 productions.  

A collection of new shorts by them will be shown as part of their Vanguard Directors Award presentation Sunday evening. In addition, a documentary about the brothers, “It Came from Kuchar,” which was produced by Jennifer Kroot, will play in the Pioneer Documentaries section of the festival.  

Kellee Santiago and Jenova Chen will be honored with the inaugural Planet Illogica Award for Excellence in New Media. This award is for artists working in the field of video games who have pushed the technological boundaries of storytelling.  

Santiago and Chen earned their MFA degrees where they met, at the University of Southern California Interactive Media program housed in the School of Cinematic Arts. Santiago’s research focused on game design, interactive narrative, and physical and gestural interfaces for digital media.  

Chen was focusing on interactive animation and video game design when the two collaborated with a student team to develop the game “Cloud.” It went on to become critically acclaimed, after which the two decided to found their own studio, ThatGameCompany. The company landed a three-game deal with Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. to develop downloadable games for Playstation Network.

Their most recent critically-acclaimed release, “Flower,” explores the tension between urban and nature, as users blow wind and fly petals across dream-like natural landscapes, and has been the top-downloaded game on the PlayStation Network.  

To get more information and to buy tickets, go to www.CineVegas.com.