FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA TO RECEIVE 50TH AFI LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

America’s Highest Honor For A Career In Film To Be Presented On April 26, 2025, At Gala Tribute To Benefit AFI’s Education And Arts Initiatives

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Los Angeles, CA, October 29, 2024 – The American Film Institute (AFI) Board of Trustees announced today that Francis Ford Coppola will be the 50th recipient of the AFI Life Achievement Award, America’s highest honor for a career in film. The award will be presented to Coppola at a Gala Tribute at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on April 26, 2025.

“Francis Ford Coppola is a peerless artist – one who has created seminal works in the canon of American film, and has also inspired generations of filmmakers who now embody his artistry and his independent spirit,” said Kathleen Kennedy, Chair of the AFI Board of Trustees. “AFI is honored to present him with the 50^th AFI Life Achievement Award.”

Coppola’s THE GODFATHER, THE GODFATHER PART II and APOCALYPSE NOW are ranked among history’s greatest films in AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies list. He is one of the most acclaimed filmmakers of our time; a six-time Academy Award®-winning (including the Board of Governors’ Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award) director, writer and producer of such films as PATTON, THE GODFATHER TRILOGY, AMERICAN GRAFFITI, THE CONVERSATION, APOCALYPSE NOW, THE OUTSIDERS, BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA and his latest epic, MEGALOPOLIS.

As the co-founder of American Zoetrope with George Lucas, Coppola initiated and nourished the careers of talents such as Carroll Ballard, John Milius, Sofia Coppola, and actors Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, James Caan, Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfus, Diane Keaton, Robert Duvall, Matt Dillon and Diane Lane. As a writer, director, producer and technological pioneer, he created a body of work that has helped shape contemporary American cinema. Coppola’s latest film MEGALOPOLIS is a Roman epic set in modern times with an all-star cast including Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne and Aubrey Plaza. This year, the film made its world premiere to a 10-minute standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival, and was released theatrically and in IMAX globally earlier this fall.

The AFI Life Achievement Award Tribute special will return for its 10th year with Turner Broadcasting to air on TNT, followed by encore presentations on Turner Classic Movies (TCM).

The American Film Institute is a nonprofit organization with a mandate to champion the moving image as an art form. All proceeds from the 50th AFI Life Achievement Award Tribute Gala support AFI’s education and arts initiatives. Learn more about AFI at AFI.com.

AFI Life Achievement Award Recipients

The 50th AFI Life Achievement Award Honoree joins an esteemed group of individuals who have been chosen for this distinguished honor since its inception.

1973   John Ford

1974   James Cagney

1975   Orson Welles

1976   William Wyler

1977   Bette Davis

1978   Henry Fonda

1979   Alfred Hitchcock

1980   James Stewart

1981   Fred Astaire

1982   Frank Capra

1983   John Huston

1984   Lillian Gish

1985   Gene Kelly

1986   Billy Wilder

1987   Barbara Stanwyck

1988   Jack Lemmon

1989   Gregory Peck

1990   David Lean

1991   Kirk Douglas

1992   Sidney Poitier

1993   Elizabeth Taylor

1994   Jack Nicholson

1995   Steven Spielberg

1996   Clint Eastwood

1997   Martin Scorsese

1998   Robert Wise

1999   Dustin Hoffman

2000   Harrison Ford

2001   Barbra Streisand

2002   Tom Hanks

2003   Robert De Niro

2004   Meryl Streep

2005   George Lucas

2006   Sean Connery

2007   Al Pacino

2008   Warren Beatty

2009   Michael Douglas

2010   Mike Nichols

2011   Morgan Freeman

2012   Shirley MacLaine

2013   Mel Brooks

2014   Jane Fonda

2015   Steve Martin

2016   John Williams

2017   Diane Keaton

2018   George Clooney

2019   Denzel Washington

2022   Julie Andrews

2024   Nicole Kidman

About the AFI Life Achievement Award

The highest honor given for a career in film, the AFI Board of Trustees established the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1973. It is presented to a single honoree each year based on the following criteria as mandated through a resolution passed by the AFI Board of Trustees: “The recipient should be one whose talent has in a fundamental way advanced the film art; whose accomplishment has been acknowledged by scholars, critics, professional peers and the general public; and whose work has stood the test of time.”

Most recently, AFI presented the 49th AFI Life Achievement Award to Nicole Kidman on Saturday, April 27, at a Gala Tribute in Hollywood. Lee Daniels, Ava DuVernay, Zac Efron, Cynthia Erivo, Morgan Freeman, Barry Jenkins, David E. Kelley, Joey King, Mimi Leder, Mike Myers, Edward James Olmos, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jane Seymour, Meryl Streep, Brian Tee, Miles Teller, Lulu Wang, Naomi Watts and more filled the Dolby Theatre to celebrate Kidman’s award-winning career and her indelible impact on the moving arts. The event also featured tributes honoring Kidman, including speeches from Zoe Saldaña, Aaron Sorkin, Keith Urban, Reese Witherspoon, among others and taped messages from Hugh Jackman, Jane Campion, Jimmy Fallon, Cate Blanchett, George Miller, Baz Luhrmann and Russell Crowe.

About the American Film Institute (AFI)

The American Film Institute (AFI) is a nonprofit organization with a mandate to champion the moving image as an art form. Established in 1967, AFI launched the first comprehensive history of American film and sparked the movement for film preservation in the United States. In 1969, AFI opened the doors of the AFI Conservatory, a graduate-level program to train narrative filmmakers. The Conservatory, which counts Deniese Davis, Affonso Gonçalves, Susannah Grant, Matthew Libatique, David Lynch, Melina Matsoukas and Rachel Morrison as Alumni, is ranked as one of the top film schools in America. AFI’s enduring traditions include the AFI Life Achievement Award, which honors the masters for work that has stood the test of time; AFI AWARDS, which celebrates the creative ensembles of the most outstanding screen stories of the year; and scholarly efforts such as the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and the AFI Archive that preserve film history for future generations. AFI exhibition programs include AFI FEST and year-round exhibition at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Maryland. AFI Movie Club is a destination for movie lovers from around the world to celebrate and engage with the art form every day. Other pioneering programs include workshops aimed at increasing diversity in the storytelling community, including AFI DWW+ and the AFI Cinematography Intensive for Women. Read about all of these programs and more at AFI.com and follow us on social media at Facebook.com/AmericanFilmInstitute, YouTube.com/AFI, Twitter.com/AmericanFilm and Instagram.com/AmericanFilmInstitute.

About TNT

TNT, a Warner Bros. Discovery brand, is watched by more people than any other cable network and known for big, lean-forward television that takes viewers on a thrill ride of electrifying stories, dynamic characters and premium events. TNT is home to some of television’s most popular sports franchises and unscripted and scripted originals including “AEW: Rampage,” “Rich & Shameless,” and “The Lazarus Project”. TNT also presents primetime specials and sports coverage, including the NHL, NBA and NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championships. Website: www.tntdrama.com

About Turner Classic Movies (TCM)

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is a two-time Peabody Award-winning network that presents classic films, uncut and commercial-free, from the largest film libraries in the world highlighting “where then meets now.” TCM features the insights from Primetime host Ben Mankiewicz along with hosts Alicia Malone, Dave Karger, Jacqueline Stewart and Eddie Muller, plus interviews with a wide range of special guests and serves as the ultimate movie lover destination. With more than two decades as a leading authority in classic film, TCM offers annual programming events like 31 Days of Oscar® and Summer Under the Stars. TCM also directly connects with movie fans through popular events such as the annual TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood and the TCM Classic Cruise. In addition, TCM produces the wildly successful podcast “The Plot Thickens,” which has had more than 9 million downloads to date. TCM hosts a wealth of material online at tcm.com and through the Watch TCM mobile app. Fans can also enjoy a classic movie experience on the TCM hub on Max.

Press contact:

American Film Institute

Shari Mesulam, [email protected]