The 2025 Fiesole Award for Masters of Cinema goes to Luca Guadagnino

The ceremony will be held on Sunday, September 21, at the Teatro di Fiesole. Admission is free.

The Fiesole Award for Masters of Cinema is one of the most prestigious events on the Italian cultural scene, first established in 1966 by the Municipality of Fiesole. Originally dedicated to filmmakers who contributed to representing Italian cinema worldwide, since 1972 the award has taken on an international dimension, honoring some of the greatest names in the history of the seventh art.

Over the years, the award has been bestowed upon directors and performers of absolute renown, including Luchino Visconti, Michelangelo Antonioni, Orson Welles, Stanley Kubrick, Ingmar Bergman, Ken Loach, Paolo Sorrentino, Liliana Cavani, Dario Argento, Toni Servillo, Giuseppe Tornatore, and Nanni Moretti. A hall of fame that perfectly reflects the mission of the award: celebrating masters capable of innovating, moving, and leaving a profound mark on the history of cinema.

Organized by the Municipality of Fiesole in collaboration with the Italian National Union of Film Critics – Tuscan Chapter and Fondazione Sistema Toscana, the award is supported by the Region of Tuscany and the Fondazione CR Firenze.

Luca Guadagnino and Daniel Craig on the set of Queer ®Yannis Drakoulidis

The 2025 Edition: Luca Guadagnino Honored

The 2025 edition of the Fiesole Award for Masters of Cinema is dedicated to Luca Guadagnino, one of the most acclaimed Italian directors on the international stage. The award ceremony will take place on Sunday, September 21, 2025, at the Teatro di Fiesole (Largo Piero Farulli, 1) and will be open to the public free of charge.

The evening will begin at 8:45 p.m. with a conversation with the director and the presentation of the monographic volume Immagini allo specchio. Il cinema di Luca Guadagnino, curated by Massimo Causo and published by Edizioni ETS. The book features essays and insights by members of the Italian National Union of Film Critics (SNCCI).

Following the presentation, the film Queer will be screened in its original version with Italian subtitles. The award will be presented by screenwriter Francesca Manieri, who collaborated with Guadagnino on the HBO-Sky series We Are Who We Are.

The tribute to Guadagnino will continue with three special screenings at the Teatro di Fiesole:

• September 24: I Am Love (2009)

• October 1: A Bigger Splash (2015)

• October 8: Bones and All (2022)

A journey through some of the most iconic works of his career, spanning melodrama, horror, thriller, and coming-of-age stories—always marked by his unmistakable and deeply personal style.

photo credits Yannis Drakoulidis

From his debut with The Protagonists to the worldwide success of Call Me by Your Name (winner of the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay), and up to his most recent works such as Challengers and the upcoming After the Hunt, set for release in October 2025, Guadagnino has built a filmography rich in experimentation and collaborations with major international actors: from Timothée Chalamet to Zendaya, from Julia Roberts to Andrew Garfield, and above all his long-standing artistic partnership with Tilda Swinton.

His ability to blend cinephilia, aesthetic research, and emotional depth makes him a truly unique auteur, recognizable even from a single frame. It is therefore no surprise that he is this year’s recipient of the Fiesole Award for Masters of Cinema.

List of all winners

• 2025: Luca Guadagnino

• 2024: Gabriele Salvatores

• 2023: Liliana Cavani

• 2022: Asghar Farhādi

• 2021: Mario Martone

• 2019: Paolo Sorrentino

• 2018: Robert Guédiguian

• 2017: Vittorio Storaro

• 2016: Stefania Sandrelli

• 2015: Dario Argento

• 2014: Giuseppe Tornatore

• 2013: Terry Gilliam

• 2012: Toni Servillo

• 2011: Jean-Pierre e Luc Dardenne

• 2010: Gianni Amelio

• 2009: Bertrand Tavernier

• 2008: Nanni Moretti

• 2007: Spike Lee

• 2006: Aki Kaurismäki

• 2005: Francesco Rosi

• 2004: Ken Loach

• 2003: Bernardo Bertolucci

• 2002: Constantin Costa-Gavras

• 2001: Harold Pinter

• 2000: Marco Bellocchio

• 1999: Arthur Penn

• 1998: Peter Greenaway

• 1997: Theo Angelopoulos

• 1996: Mario Monicelli

• 1995: Robert Altman

• 1994: Wim Wenders

• 1989: Alberto Lattuada

• 1988: Ingmar Bergman

• 1987: Ermanno Olmi

• 1986: Akira Kurosawa

• 1985: Paolo e Vittorio Taviani

• 1984: Ettore Scola

• 1983: Stanley Kubrick

• 1982: Renato Castellani

• 1979: Alfred Hitchcock

• 1974: Orson Welles

• 1973: Sergej Michajlovič Ejzenštejn

• 1972: Luis Buñuel

• 1968: Michelangelo Antonioni

• 1967: Roberto Rossellini

• 1966: Luchino Visconti