Luca Guadagnino to receive the Cartier Glory to the Filmmaker 2026 Award

La Biennale di Venezia and Cartier are pleased to announce that the Italian director and producer Luca Guadagnino (After the Hunt, Challengers, Bones and All) is the recipient of the Cartier Glory to the Filmmaker Award of the 83^rd Venice International Film Festival (September 2^nd – 12^th, 2026), dedicated to a personality who has made a particularly original contribution to the contemporary film industry.

The award ceremony for Luca Guadagnino will take place on Tuesday September 8^th in the Sala Casinò (Palazzo del Casinò), at 3:00 pm, before the screening Out of Competition of his new documentary, Joie de vivre (Italy, 435’).

Directed by Luca Guadagnino, Joie de vivre is produced by MeMo Films.

The 83^rd Venice International Film Festival of La Biennale di Venezia will be held on the Lido from September 2^nd to 12^th, 2026, directed by Alberto Barbera.

Luca Guadagnino in accepting the offer, declared: “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. To be honored for one’s craft or life as a filmmaker is an ambition that no one who makes films could ever presume to imagine achieving—especially by joining a group of filmmakers who have received this prestigious honor before me and to whom I owe so much of my development. So, I want to emphasize once again what an honor it is to receive this award, especially from Alberto Barbera and La Biennale di Venezia. Thank you, thank you!”

Welcoming this announcement, the Director of the Venice Film Festival Alberto Barbera has stated: “The Glory to the Filmmaker Award celebrates in Luca Guadagnino an author who has managed to transform his curiosity into a form of creative freedom. Defying alignment with any single school or movement, he has established himself as a global director, capable of working with leading international actors and producers. He has navigated diverse genres—from melodrama to horror, coming-of-age to psychological thriller—while maintaining a consistent and recognizable voice, without ever losing a deeply Italian identity in portraying bodies, settings, and history. His is a vital cinema that does not shy away from risk: nomadic, sensual, sophisticated yet widely accessible, where intellectual provocation and emotion, memory and modernity coexist brilliantly. Glory to the Filmmaker honors the originality of a vision that has succeeded in renewing the language of contemporary cinema, celebrating a career that has brought Italian auteurship into a true dialogue with the entire world.”

Cartier is proud to join La Biennale di Venezia in honouring Luca Guadagnino, a filmmaker who has continuously pushed the boundaries of his craft while creating a body of work that is unmistakably his own. His collaborations with leading actors, writers, composers and craftspeople have produced some of the most distinctive works in contemporary cinema, as well as audacious storytelling from a director who resists categorization. Through the Cartier Glory to the Filmmaker Award, we recognise the enduring influence of an artist who has enriched the possibilities of cinematic expression.

Luca Guadagnino was born in Palermo, Italy, in 1971. Joie de vivre is Guadagnino’s new return to the Lido. He recently premiered After the Hunt (2025), Queer (2024) and Bones and All (2022) at the Mostra, winning the Silver Lion for Best Director for the latter. Previously, Guadagnino premiered several films in Venice: The Protagonists (1999), Io sono l’amore (2009), Bertolucci on Bertolucci (2013), A Bigger Splash (2015), Suspiria (2018), Salvatore: The Shoemaker of Dreams (2020). He is the writer, director, and producer of Call Me by Your Name, with which he is Academy Award nominee for Best Picture. Guadagnino has served as President of the Jury of the Beirut International Film Festival (2011) and as President of the Jury at the 68th San Sebastián Festival.

Since 2021, Cartier has partnered with La Biennale di Venezia to become Main Sponsor of the Venice International Film Festival and jointly contribute to supporting contemporary film creation. As part of this collaboration, and since 2021, the Venice International Film Festival and Cartier pay tribute to outstanding filmmakers through the Cartier Glory to the Filmmaker Award, dedicated to a personality who has made a particularly original contribution to the contemporary film industry. The award ceremony takes place in the Lido di Venezia and will be a unique occasion to celebrate talent, creativity, and emotion. Art and culture have always been intimately linked to the history of Cartier. This collaboration with one of the most renowned international cultural events builds on the Maison’s long-lasting commitments to preserve cultural heritage and to support contemporary artistic creation.