Alejandro González Iñárritu may have a little extra spring in his step after his latest award… 

The 51-year-old Mexican film director will receive this year’s Director of the Year Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival‘s 26th annual Awards Gala on January 3.

Inarritu, who has said that Birdman is a semi-autobiographical project, has already received Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice nominations for his co-writing and direction of the project.

He previously received PSIFF‘s Director of the Year Award in 2007 for his work on Babel (2006).

Other previous recipients of the PSIFF prize include Steve McQueen for 12 Years a Slave (2013), Robert Zemeckis for Flight (2012), Stephen Daldry for Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011), David O. Russell for The Fighter (2010), Jason Reitman for Up in the Air (2009), Sean Penn for Into the Wild (2007) and Alexander Payne for Sideways (2004).

“By creating the illusion that the film was shot in one take and directing award-worthy performances by Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Emma Stone and a star-studded cast, Inarritu,” PSIFF chairman Harold Matzner said in a statement. “Inarritu has created a brilliant and original dark comedy.”

The film festival will run January 2-12.