The Gotham Film & Media Institute announced today that Luca Guadagnino and Julia Roberts will receive the 2025 Gotham Awards Visionary Tribute for Amazon MGM Studios’ “After the Hunt” at the 35th Annual Gotham Film Awards Ceremony, taking place on Monday, December 1st, 2025, at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City and livestreaming on Variety’s YouTube channel.
“The Gotham community has long cherished Luca Guadagnino’s emotionally expressive storytelling, and in “After the Hunt,” Julia Roberts delivers a luminous, monumental performance that deepens an already extraordinary career — guided by his singular direction behind one of the year’s most talked-about and provocative films,” said Jeffrey Sharp, Executive Director of The Gotham Film & Media Institute. “Their partnership speaks to the power of collaboration at its highest level.”
“I could not have imagined collaborating on this project with anyone other than Luca Guadagnino,” says Roberts. “To inhabit a character like Alma. So unrelenting, so burdened with secrets and unresolved trauma, one must be in complete concert with the director. With Luca, it was a continuous and unfolding joy. He understands human behavior in a unique and fascinating way, and his attention to detail is unsurpassed. There is nothing that would make me happier than to broaden my life as an actor in continued collaboration with him.”
From Academy Award–nominated filmmaker Guadagnino, “After the Hunt” is a gripping psychological thriller that follows a college professor, played by Julia Roberts, who finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads. When a star student (Ayo Edebiri) levels an accusation against one of her colleagues (Andrew Garfield), the professor is forced to navigate complex moral territory while a dark secret from her own past threatens to come into the light.
“After the Hunt” also stars Michael Stuhlbarg and Chloë Sevigny. Written by Nora Garrett, who also serves as an executive producer, the film is produced by Guadagnino, Brian Grazer, Jeb Brody, and Allan Mandelbaum, with executive producers Karen Lunder, Justin Wilkes, and Alice Dawson. An Amazon MGM Studios presentation, produced by Imagine Entertainment and Frenesy Film Company.
“I only cast the actors and actresses I fall in love with – a palpable emotion for them, anticipation and enthusiasm when I see them – my emotional confidence in them blends into chemistry. And now I love Julia Roberts. She is everything. Julia Roberts is Cinema with a capital C. She shined so bright the first time I saw her on the big screen, in “Steel Magnolias.” Even early in her career trusting her audience and inviting them into her story as Shelby. Her light has never dimmed, only grown brighter, and after over four decades, dare I say more refined. I knew I would someday need to work with her,” says director Luca Guadagnino. “As an artist, Julia comes with grace and the power of her incredible physical presence as a star. She gives this incredibly subtle performance so full of humanity, so brave, not shying away from the difficult, unexpected turns Alma takes in the film. The Gothams celebrate challenging, boundary-pushing, often on-the-margin stories like the groundbreaking “Paris is Burning” in 1991, their inaugural year. I am grateful to be in the great company of the other artists recognized over the last 35 years, making movies that matter, that entertain, with relentless care to craft, and always moving film forward. Mille Grazie.”
Luca Guadagnino previously received the Best Feature award for “Call Me by Your Name” at the 27th Annual Gotham Film Awards and most recently earned a nomination for “Challengers” at the 34th Annual Gotham Film Awards ceremony. Other features include “I Am Love,” “A Bigger Splash,” “Suspiria,” “Bones and All,” and “Queer.”
The Gotham Awards Visionary Tribute was created to recognize groundbreaking collaborations that push the boundaries of storytelling in film. Last year’s award was presented to James Mangold and Timothée Chalamet for “A Complete Unknown.”
It was previously announced that Jeremy Allen White and Scott Cooper will receive The Gotham Cultural Icon Tribute for “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere.” Other honorees for this year that were previously announced include “Song Sung Blue” stars Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman (Gotham Musical Tribute), “Hedda” star Tessa Thompson (Spotlight Tribute), “Jay Kelly” filmmaker Noah Baumbach (Directors’ Tribute), “Frankenstein” director Guillermo del Toro along with Jacob Elordi and Oscar Isaac (Vanguard Tribute), and the cast of “Sinners” (Ensemble Tribute) for the 35th Annual Gotham Film Awards.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” leads all nominees for this year’s Gotham Film Awards with six nominations, including Best Feature, where it will compete against “Bugonia,” “East of Wall,” “Familiar Touch,” “Hamnet,” “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” “Lurker,” “Sorry, Baby,” “The Testament of Ann Lee,” and “Train Dreams.”
Winners of the 35th Annual Gotham Film Awards will be honored at the awards ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street on Monday, December 1st, 2025. Nominees were announced on October 28th, 2025.
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