Today, the American Film Institute (AFI) celebrated the 2025 AFI AWARDS honorees at an exclusive invitation-only luncheon at the Four Seasons Hotel Los Angeles at Beverly Hills. Celebrating film and television arts’ collaborative nature, AFI AWARDS is the only national program that honors creative teams as a whole, recognizing those in front of and behind the camera.
Carol Burnett delivered the annual benediction in celebration of the honorees’ remarkable achievements to close the event and shared: “I’ve never lost the deep respect and love that I have for all the stories we tell through cinema and television and by all of those behind and in front of the camera. Creative collaboration has always remained at the heart of our work, and AFI brings us all together. The world is a better place for having heard your voices.”
Guests in attendance at the AFI AWARDS luncheon included Pam Abdy, Patricia Arquette, Odessa A’zion, Ike Barinholtz, David Benioff, Clint Bentley, Alan Bergman, Casey Bloys, Jessie Buckley, Debora Cahn, James Cameron, Timothée Chalamet, Oona Chaplin, Jon M. Chu, George Clooney, Charlie Collier, Ryan Coogler, Tim Cook, Robert A. Daly, Keith David, Michael De Luca, Benicio del Toro, Guillermo del Toro, Laura Dern, Alexandre Desplat, Leonardo DiCaprio, Erin Doherty, Autumn Durald Arkapaw, Ava DuVernay, Joel Edgerton, Jacob Elordi, Dan Erickson, David Fenkel, Jean Picker Firstenberg, Dede Gardner, R. Scott Gemmill, Vince Gilligan, Dan Gilroy, John Gilroy, Evan Goldberg, Jeff Goldblum, Mia Goth, Nick Grad, Stephen Graham, Ariana Grande, Alex Gregory, Kathryn Hahn, Ethan Hawke, David Heyman, Winnie Holzman, Peter Huyck, Chase Infiniti, Brad Ingelsby, Emilia Jones, Michael B. Jordan, Jacobi Jupe, Kathleen Kennedy, Jeremy Kleiner, Peter Kujawski, John Landgraf, Donna Langley, Yorgos Lanthimos, Delroy Lindo, Britt Lower, Diego Luna, Wunmi Mosaku, Nick Offerman, Edward James Olmos, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jafar Panahi, Tom Pelphrey, Marc Platt, Jesse Plemons, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Seth Rogen, Mark Ruffalo, Keri Russell, Josh Safdie, Adam Sandler, Ted Sarandos, Stephen Schwartz, Teddy Schwarzman, Adam Scott, Rhea Seehorn, Rufus Sewell, Stellan Skarsgård, Steven Spielberg, George Stevens Jr., Scott Stuber, Lynette Howell Taylor, Teyana Taylor, Tramell Tillman, Anthony Vinciquerra, D.B. Weiss, Ryan Werner, Bradley Whitford, Chase Sui Wonders, Karolina Wydra, Chloé Zhao and Edward Zwick.
The AFI AWARDS luncheon also featured the Institute’s signature March of Time montage (below) – a unique cross-section of cinematic milestones from decades past, which places the motion picture and television program honorees into a historical context and provides a perspective on the evolution of the narrative arts.
At the event, AFI revealed its official rationales for all 21 honorees, providing the cultural and artistic context to mark these outstanding creative endeavors as the year’s notable milestones. All the honored works advance the art of the moving image, inspire audiences and artists alike and enhance the rich cultural heritage of America’s art form.
