“Frankenstein” director Guillermo del Toro is set to receive the BFI Fellowship, the film organization’s highest honor.
The award honors del Toro’s “extraordinary contributions to film and the unique artistry that permeates his work as a Mexican filmmaker across animation and live-action,” in both Spanish and English, according to a press release. “Del Toro blends dark horror and gothic fantasy, drawing on folklore, fairy tales, literature, science fiction, religion, and comic books to create a sumptuous, fantastical cinematic world and characters that include emotionally complex monsters and creatures.”
Del Toro, who won Best Picture and Best Director Oscars for 2017’s The Shape of Water, will be awarded the Fellowship at the annual BFI Chairman’s Dinner in May 2026. He will take part in a public career conversation at the BFI Southbank, will be celebrated with a retrospective of his films, and will program his own film season at the BFI at a later date. Del Toro will also deliver a series of masterclasses to aspiring filmmakers at the BFI Academy, a remastered 4K version of his 1992 debut film Kronos will be re-released by the BFI, and del Toro will visit the BFI National Archives.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime honor and a thrilling moment in a storyteller’s life, to join a rare pantheon and be recognized by the BFI,” del Toro said in a statement. “I am deeply influenced by British cinema and have enjoyed long and fruitful collaborations with some great talent on both sides of the camera over the decades. I would like to thank everyone at the BFI for this great honour. I will work hard to prove that I am worthy of their faith in me.”
BFI chairman Jay Hunt added: “Guillermo del Toro is an extraordinary filmmaker who has had a long association with the BFI and has consistently championed British talent. His collaboration here speaks to the strength of our widescreen industry and the skilled talent that powers it. The body of work is immediately recognizable as boldly imaginative and fantastical. In awarding Guillermo del Toro the BFI Fellowship, we recognize his outstanding contribution to cinema and the inspiration and magic that this film has reached nationally and internationally. ”
Del Toro joins previous BFI Fellowship recipients including Christopher Nolan, Tom Cruise, Spike Lee, Tilda Swinton, Martin Scorsese, Orson Welles and Elizabeth Taylor.
