George Clooney Honored With Spirit of Independence Award at LA festival

Hollywood actor George Clooney was honored Saturday night with Spirit of Independence Award at LA festival for his for support to independent filmakers.

Among the celebrities invited to the festival were Don Cheadle, Virginia Madsen ("Sideways") Shohreh Aghdashloo ("House of Sand and Fog") and Allison Janney.

Clooney told AP Television News that despite the A-list attendees, the evening "was actually about helping and funding and giving grants to young filmmakers, which, I think, is the most important thing - people doing documentaries and people doing interesting films. And for that, alone, it seems to be a really good cause, because it's a really good time for this."

Clooney also declared that his career has "always been a battle" between art and commerce.

"You try to do a little bit to make it that you can afford to do the things you are most passionate about," he said. "It's a trade-off. If you do it well, if you're lucky, you sort of bounce back and forth and you're about to sort of constantly go back and touch the things that are important to you."