Francis Ford Coppola to Receive 50th AFI Life Achievement Award

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 50th 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. 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 and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, he is one of the most acclaimed filmmakers in history. His latest film Megalopolis is a $120M self-funded Roman epic set in modern times with an all-star cast including Academy Award nominee Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Academy Award winner 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.

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.

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.

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