Luca Guadagnino has been awarded the Cartier Glory to the Filmmaker Award at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, an honor dedicated to a figure who has made a particularly original contribution to the contemporary film industry. In his case, that means a body of work that has moved comfortably between Italian auteur cinema and major international productions while holding on to a distinctly personal filmmaking language.
The award was presented on September 8 at the Sala Casinò, ahead of the Out of Competition screening of Guadagnino’s new documentary Joie de vivre. Running 435 minutes and produced by MeMo Films, the film marks another return to a festival that has played an important role throughout the director’s career.
Born in Palermo in 1971, Guadagnino first came to Venice with The Protagonists in 1999. His relationship with the Lido has since included, among others, Io sono l’amore, A Bigger Splash, Suspiria, Salvatore: The Shoemaker of Dreams, Bones and All, Queer and After the Hunt. In 2022, Bones and All earned him the Silver Lion for Best Director, while Call Me by Your Name brought Guadagnino an Academy Award nomination as a producer for Best Picture. Films including Challengers have further expanded his position within international cinema.
In a statement issued when the award was announced, Guadagnino described his reaction in characteristically simple terms:
“It might seem like a rhetorical gesture to say I am honored to receive the Glory to the Filmmaker award, but it is the plain truth for many reasons.”
He went on to acknowledge the filmmakers who had received the distinction before him and whose work contributed to his own development, while thanking Alberto Barbera and La Biennale di Venezia. Barbera, meanwhile, described Guadagnino as a filmmaker who has transformed curiosity into creative freedom, moving between genres without losing either a recognizable voice or what he called a “deeply Italian identity.”
Cartier Builds a Long-Term Place in Cinema
The award also reflects a broader relationship between Cartier and the film industry. The Maison has been a Main Sponsor of the Venice International Film Festival since 2021, when it began its partnership with La Biennale di Venezia to support contemporary cinematic creation. Since 2021 the Glory to the Filmmaker Award — first presented in 2007 — has carried the Cartier name as part of that collaboration, dedicated to a personality who has made a particularly original contribution to the contemporary film industry.
Guadagnino joins the recipients named since Cartier‘s partnership began: Ridley Scott, Walter Hill, Wes Anderson, Claude Lelouch and Julian Schnabel. Venice hands out its lifetime honors separately — this year’s Golden Lions for Lifetime Achievement went to George Clooney and Ellen Burstyn — which leaves Glory to the Filmmaker as something narrower: a prize for directors with unusually distinct creative identities.
For Cartier, the association with cinema goes considerably further back. The Maison traces its screen connections to the early 20th century, with Cartier creations associated over the decades with figures including Rudolph Valentino, Gloria Swanson, Audrey Hepburn, Romy Schneider and María Félix. Today, that historical link has developed into a more structured cultural strategy around filmmaking, including ‘The Art and Craft of Cinema,’ the masterclass series Cartier has run with La Biennale since 2022.
In that context, honoring Guadagnino makes particular sense. His films are built around highly recognizable visual worlds but are also deeply dependent on collaboration across acting, costume, production design, music and cinematography — precisely the wider creative ecosystem that Cartier has increasingly chosen to associate itself with at Venice.
