Guillermo del Toro, the acclaimed Mexican director, has been honored with the prestigious BFI Fellowship by the British Film Institute. This recognition places him alongside cinematic legends such as David Lean, Akira Kurosawa, Orson Welles, and Martin Scorsese. The BFI acknowledges his extraordinary contributions to film, highlighting his distinctive artistry across animation and live-action, as well as his role as a Mexican filmmaker working in both Spanish and English. The Fellowship will be bestowed upon del Toro at the annual BFI Chair's dinner in London in May, where he will also engage in a public career conversation, have his work celebrated with a retrospective, and curate a film season at BFI Southbank. Additionally, he will conduct masterclasses for aspiring young filmmakers and visit the BFI National Archive as part of the fellowship celebration.
Del Toro's journey with the BFI began during his early days as a projectionist in Mexico, where he sourced prints from the BFI National Archives, including securing Mexico's first screening of Michael Powell's Peeping Tom. His admiration for British films and filmmakers is evident in his work, as he has drawn inspiration from classics like Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger (1927), Thorold Dickinson's Gaslight (1940), Powell and Pressburger's Black Narcissus (1947) and The Red Shoes (1948), which influenced his Oscar-winning film The Shape of Water. Del Toro's collaboration with the BFI has been a significant part of his career, and he has consistently championed British talent.
As part of the BFI Fellowship, del Toro's debut feature Cronos (1992), a vampire movie, will be re-released in 4K and shown in cinemas across the U.K. This film, which won nine Ariel awards in Mexico and the grand prize at Cannes Critics Week, served as his international calling card. It caught the attention of Miramax, leading to the production of his English-language debut, the sci-fi horror movie Mimic (1997).
Del Toro's diverse career encompasses big-budget comic book adaptations like Blade II (2002) and Hellboy (2004), as well as effect-heavy blockbusters such as Pacific Rim (2013) and Crimson Peak (2015). However, he is also celebrated for his Oscar-winning supernatural fantasy dramas Pan's Labyrinth (2006) and The Shape of Water (2017), and his stop-motion animation work, including Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022). His recent film, a re-interpretation of the horror classic Frankenstein, starring Jacob Elordi, Oscar Isaac, and Mia Goth, premiered at the Venice Film Festival and is a strong contender for awards.
The BFI Fellowship has been awarded to other screen legends such as Bette Davis, Ousmane Sembène, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, Thelma Schoonmaker, Derek Jarman, Satyajit Ray, and Yasujirō Ozu. More recent recipients include Tilda Swinton, Spike Lee, Christopher Nolan, Tom Cruise, and James Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson.
