The Academy Award-winner will hit the stage for a special conversation on the occasion of the premieres of her highly anticipated new films.

A singular presence in Hollywood blockbusters and independent cinema alike, Reese Witherspoon specializes in defying expectations. With plenty of great characters under her belt that have seen her evolve from child star to comedic heroine (Legally Blonde) to dramatic powerhouse (Walk the Line), Witherspoon stars in two films at the Festival this year. In Jean-Marc Vallée’s Wild she plays Cheryl Strayed, a woman who overcomes a series of personal tragedies by hiking 1,100 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail; and in The Good Lie she’s an employment agency counsellor whose encounter with a trio of Sudanese refugees opens both her heart and her view of the world beyond her Kansas City home.