Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro was awarded a BFI Fellowship last night during a ceremony in London. 

The filmmaker was handed the award, the British Film Institute’s highest honor, by his frequent collaborator Cate Blanchett. 

“For a man that has tried for 30 years to make the brutal and the beautiful sit together, I have never made a movie I would not die for,” del Toro began his acceptance speech.  

“I was born in Mexico, geographically, spiritually, and physically, but my soul has belonged to many parts of the world over the years, including England, and the UK has given me so much. The BFI is guarding not just British film, but guarding film as an art form and keeping that faith aligned.” 

Del Toro added: “That is why this honour is so immense. I believe in the British Film Institute as a beacon of culture, in a time where we are told culture is not important.”

The ceremony was led by BFI Chair Jay Hunt and BFI Chief Executive Ben Roberts. Attendees included J.J. Abrams, J. A. Bayona, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Elizabeth Karlsen, Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright, and Rian Johnson. 

Del Toro has a long connection to the UK. As a young projectionist in Mexico, he sourced prints from the BFI National Archive, including for Mexico’s first screening of Michael Powell’s Peeping Tom. His last Frankenstein (2025) was shot partly in the UK, using locations including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Salisbury, and Peterborough. In May, the BFI will re-release the filmmaker’s debut feature Cronos (1992), recently remastered in 4K by the BFI and Les Films du Camelia. Del Toro oversaw the restorations. Del Toro will also visit the BFI National Archive as part of the Fellowship celebrations. 

BFI Fellows include David Lean, Bette Davis, Akira Kurosawa, Ousmane Sembène, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, Orson Welles, Thelma Schoonmaker, Derek Jarman, Martin Scorsese, Satyajit Ray, Yasujirō Ozu, and, most recently, Tilda Swinton, Barbara Broccoli, Michael G Wilson, Spike Lee, Christopher Nolan, Prof. Laura Mulvey, and Tom Cruise. 

Del Toro will be in Cannes later this month to present a 4K restoration of Pan’s Labyrinth.