Jason Reitman to Receive 2025 Cinematic Imagery Award from Art Directors Guild
The Art Directors Guild (ADG, IATSE Local 800) announced today that acclaimed director, filmmaker and Academy Award nominee Jason Reitman will receive the 2025 Cinematic Imagery Award at the 29th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards.
“Between script and screen, a director must navigate twenty crafts and art forms. My movies stand on the shoulders of brilliant artists including the production designers Jess Gonchor, Francois Audouy, Kevin Thompson, and Steve Saklad,” says Reitman. “Without these designers, art directors, set decorators and teams of craftspeople who work endless hours, my dreams would never be realized. I’m beyond honored to receive this award from the ADG and I am eternally grateful to its members.”
Most recently, Reitman wrote, produced, and directed Saturday Night, which chronicles the frantic lead-up to Saturday Night Live’s first broadcast and was released on October 11 by Sony. The film features a unique two-story, 360-degree immersive set designed by Jess Gonchor which allowed for the ninety minutes of continuous choreography to take place.
Reitman earned four Oscar nominations for his work on the films Juno and Up in the Air, the latter of which earned Reitman a Golden Globe Award, a WGA Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay. His previous films as a director also include Young Adult, Tully, Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Thank You For Smoking.
The ADG’s Cinematic Imagery Award is given to a filmmaker whose body of work has richly enhanced the visual aspects of the viewer’s experience and highlighted the work of the art department. Previous recipients include Baz Luhrmann, Jane Campion, Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese and George Lucas.
“Jason Reitman’s body of work demonstrates how collaboration between directors, production designers and all of the talented filmmakers in the art department can create visual worlds and stories with emotional depth and lasting impact,” says award show producers Michael Allen Glover, ADG and Megan Elizabeth Bell, ADG. “We’re honored to celebrate him with this year’s Cinematic Imagery Award.”
In addition to his work as a director and filmmaker, Reitman currently serves as a governor in the director’s branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and leads a coalition of over 35 filmmakers engaged in acquiring and preserving the historic Village Theater in Westwood, California.
The ADG will also honor Lisa Frazza, Barbara Mesney, Dan Sweetman, and J. Dennis Washington with the Guild’s Lifetime Achievement Awards. Additionally, legendary production designer Carl Jules Weyl will be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
The 29th Annual Excellence in Production Design Awards will take place on Feb. 15, 2025, at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown. The Art Directors Guild Awards are proud to be sponsored by Presenting Level: Sweetwater / NEP Live Events; Premier Level: Astek Wallcoverings, CushLight, Dazian; Diamond Level: Goodnight & Co.; Platinum Level: Interior Design Solutions (Belbien), Worldwide Production Agency (WPA); Gold Level: Epic Games | Unreal Engine.
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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