Academy Award-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman will visit Sweden for the first time to receive the newly instituted Honorary Dragon Award. He is the man behind hit movies like Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

At the festival office in Göteborg, the heat is on to complete the programme and invite exciting guests. We can now reveal that one of these exciting guests is writer-director Charlie Kaufman.

He was born in New York in 1958 and worked as a teleplay writer for several years before his 1999 breakthrough with the script for Being John Malkovich (starring John Malkovich, John Cusack and Cameron Diaz), which was nominated for an Academy Award. In 2004, he received an Academy Award for the screenplay for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (starring Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet). The first film he both wrote and directed was Synecdoche, New York (starring Philip Seymour Hoffman) in 2008. Synecdoche, New York was nominated for The Ingmar Bergman International Debut Award at Göteborg International Film Festival 2009.

In his films Charlie Kaufman often focuses on themes such as identity and crisis. He is known for innovative, twisted and philosophical stories and has worked with directors like Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry. He is one of few screenwriters that has reached stardom, but has also become known as a mythical figure who is considered media shy and chooses to stay away from the limelight.

– There are not many writers who manage to break through the cult of directors that exists in the film world, but Charlie Kaufman is one major exception. His cross-border scripts have earned him an “auteur” status even though he has consistently worked with recognized filmmakers. There is no mistaking a film by Charlie Kaufman – his originality is unsurpassed. We can not think of a more worthy recipient of our first Honorary Dragon Award, says Andreas Degerhammar, Head of International Programme at Göteborg International Film Festival.

The 34th Göteborg International Film Festival takes place January 28 to February 7 2011. Charlie Kaufman will visit the festival January 28 to January 31 and will receive the award at the opening gala, 28 January.

Executive Producer Spike Jones, Jr. has been tapped once again by the Writers Guild of America, West to executive produce its 2011 Writers Guild Awards’ Los Angeles show set for Saturday, February 5, 2011, at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel-Grand Ballroom. Jones, Jr. recently executive produced the WGAW’s 2010 awards ceremony this past February, as well as this year’s Primetime Creative Arts Emmys telecast.

Having produced and directed many high-profile industry awards shows over the past decade, Jones and his SJ2 Entertainment’s producing credits include thePrimetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards for the past 16 years, 2007 and 2006 Independent Spirit Awards Red Carpet pre-shows, Spike TV’s Video Game Awards After Bash, TV Land Awards Red Carpet Arrivals, as well as executive producing and directing the Writers Guild Awards’ West Coast ceremonies in 2010, 2004 (broadcast on Starz-Encore), and 2003.

Talent producer Carole Propp also returns as part of SJ2’s creative team for the 2011 L.A.-based WGA show. Her credits include The Tony Awards for the past eight years, the Primetime Emmy Awards (three years), the Creative Arts Emmy Awards for the past eight years, Saturday Night at the Movies for the past eleven years,Soul Train Awards (five years), numerous Writers Guild Awards’ L.A. ceremonies (2010, 2009, 2006, and 2005), The International Emmy Awards, and this past season of In the House with Peter Bart and Peter Guber on Encore.

In addition, Emmy-winning and four-time Writers Guild Award-winning late-night television writer Guy Nicolucci (Late Night with Conan O’Brien) will serve as head writer of the WGAW’s West Coast WGA show. His other television writing credits include The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, The 58th Primetime Emmy Awards, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Nicolucci has also written for such talents as Craig Kilborn and Martin Short, as well as contributed to New York Magazine, Spy, and The New York Post, among other publications.