LOS ANGELES — The Governors Awards is an annual event celebrating awards conferred by the Academy's Board of Governors – the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award and the Honorary Award. Recipients are announced each summer and honored at a dinner gala in November. Highlights from the event are incorporated into the year's Academy Awards show.
The 2017 honorees are: Charles Burnett, Owen Roizman, Donald Sutherland and Agnès Varda. On November 11th, at the 9th Annual Governors Awards, the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented Honorary Awards (Oscar statuettes) to writer-director Charles Burnett, cinematographer Owen Roizman, actor Donald Sutherland and director Agnès Varda. A Special Award (Oscar statuette) was presented to Alejandro Iñárritu’s Carne y Arena virtual reality installation.