Pedro Almodóvar is the next recipient of Film at Lincoln Center’s prestigious Chaplin Award.
The Oscar-winning writer-director will be celebrated at a gala event featuring excerpts of his work and appearances by co-stars, friends and colleagues at Lincoln Center on April 28, 2025.
The announcement was made ahead of the U.S. premiere and New York Film Festival centerpiece gala screening of Almodóvar’s first English-language feature film The Room Next Door, starring Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton.
The Room Next Door won the Golden Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival and is set to open in L.A. and New York on Dec. 20 before expanding to select cities on Dec. 25 and going nationwide in January.
One of Spain’s most celebrated filmmakers, Almodóvar’s feature films include Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988); Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989); All About My Mother (1999), which won the Oscar for best foreign-language film; Talk to Her (2002), which won Almodóvar the best original screenplay Oscar; Volver (2006); and Pain and Glory (2019). He also made the acclaimed 2023 short Strange Way of Life, starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal.
“Pedro Almodóvar is a storytelling master whose artistry, creativity and exceptional talent have captivated audiences and filmmakers alike,” said Film at Lincoln Center president Lesli Klainberg. “From his earliest films, he has immersed us in emotionally rich, vibrant, complex and compassionate worlds. A steadfast believer in cinema’s ability to both entertain and illuminate the human experience, Pedro had touched the hearts of film lovers around the world. Film at Lincoln Center is proud to honor Pedro Almodóvar with the 50th Chaplin Award.”
Film at Lincoln Center Board of Directors secretary Wendy Keys added, “Pedro burst into our lives in 1985 with the premiere of his irreverent and darkly humorous film What Have I Done to Deserve This? at New Directors/New Films. I hosted a suitably spirited party in my apartment that night, and it was then that I fell in love. Over the years, he has had 15 films in the New York Film Festival and also helped launch the Walter Reade Theater with a raucous screening of High Heels in 1991. We all adore his lively characters, gorgeous palette and mischievous sense of fun, but his films also affirm his profound love for women and a deep understanding of the human condition. We could not be happier to name Pedro as the recipient of the 50th Chaplin Award.”
The Room Next Door, a Sony Pictures Classics release, is Almodóvar’s 15th New York Film Festival selection, with a record nine picks receiving gala presentations. Almodóvar’s past festival films include Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, All About My Mother, Bad Education, Volver, Live Flesh, Talk to Her, Broken Embraces, Parallel Mothers, The Flower of My Secret, The Skin I Live In, Julieta, Pain and Glory, The Human Voice and Strange Way of Life.
