Gus Van Sant, the revered director of films such as Good Will Hunting and Milk, will be honored later this fall with the Precious Gem Award at the Miami Film Festival GEMS event.
The festivities, set for Monday, Nov. 3 at Miami’s Cosford Cinema, will kick off at 7 p.m. local time with a screening of Van Sant’s latest film, Dead Man’s Wire, followed by a career-retrospective conversation with Van Sant, moderated by yours truly, that will be recorded for subsequent airing as an episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast.
Then the 73-year-old two-time Oscar nominee and Palme d’Or winner will receive the Precious Gem Award, which celebrates “one-of-a-kind artists whose contributions to cinema are lasting and unforgettable.” Previous recipients include Pedro Almodóvar, Penélope Cruz, Isabelle Huppert, Rita Moreno and, last year, Sebastian Stan.
“We are honored to present Gus Van Sant with our prestigious Precious Gem Award, celebrating a career that has shaped modern cinema,” Lauren Cohen, Miami Film Festival’s programming director, said in a statement. “We’re especially excited to partner with The Hollywood Reporter to host a live Awards Chatter conversation with Scott Feinberg and Gus, offering audiences a rare and intimate look into the vision of one of our most iconic filmmakers.”
Van Sant has had an incomparable career. Emerging in the 1980s as one of the most prominent auteurs who helped to usher in the New Queer Cinema movement, he established himself with indies such as Mala Noche (1985), Drugstore Cowboy (1989), My Own Private Idaho (1991) and To Die For (1995). Since the mainstream success of Good Will Hunting, his credits have included the Cannes-winning Elephant (2003), Milk and the TV limited series Feud: Capote vs. The Swans (2024).
Van Sant’s latest film, Dead Man’s Wire — which sparked Oscar buzz following its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival and North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, and which Row K Entertainment will release in the U.S. later this year — is based on a true story from 1977.
It centers on Tony Kiritzis (Bill Skarsgard), an Indianapolis man who poured his life savings into a real estate investment, the sale of which, he felt, was then deliberately sabotaged by his mortgage broker, thrusting him into a rage. Kiritzis showed up at the office of the mortgage company, seeking its CEO M.L. Hall (Al Pacino), but, upon learning that the man was on vacation, met up with the man’s son Richard Hall (Dacre Montgomery), the company’s president, and took him hostage. He then connected a sawed-off shotgun to a wire that he placed around Hall’s neck, and, in full view of the police and media, transported him back to his own apartment, from which negotiations commenced. As twisted as Kiritzis’ behavior was, he became something of a folk hero after sharing his motives via interviews with a popular local DJ (Colman Domingo).
Miami Film Festival GEMS will take place Oct. 29-Nov. 5. Previously announced honorees include Ethan Hawke and Dylan O’Brien.
