Guillermo del Toro receives BFI Fellowship

Guillermo del Toro was honoured with the British Film Institute (BFI)'s Fellowship in London on Wednesday.

The Mexican filmmaker was presented with the BFI's highest honour by his Nightmare Alley star Cate Blanchett at the annual BFI Chair's Dinner at the Rosewood London hotel.

The BFI Fellowship recognises the Frankenstein director's extraordinary "contribution to film and the distinctive artistry that defines his work across both animation and live action".

Del Toro was supported by fellow filmmakers including J. J. Abrams, John Waters, Rian Johnson, J. A. Bayona and Edgar Wright, as well as actor Simon Pegg and frequent collaborator David Bradley, at the dinner, hosted by BFI Chair Jay Hunt.

"For a man that has tried for 30 years to make the brutal and the beautiful sit together, I have never made a movie I would not die for," Del Toro said about receiving the honour. "I was born in Mexico, geographically, spiritually, physically, but my soul has belonged to many parts of the world over the years, including England, and the UK has given me so much.

"The BFI is guarding not just British film, but guarding film as an art form and keeping that faith aligned. That is why this honour is so immense. I believe in the British Film Institute as a beacon of culture, in a time where we are told culture is not important."

Blanchett, who became a BFI Fellow in 2015, said of the director, "Wildly entertaining, often hilarious and frequently terrifying, Guillermo del Toro offers a vision of what we have to guard against, while reminding us of what we have to fight for and protect - love; beauty; the life of the spirit; the touch of the human hand. Guillermo's artistry has never been more urgent and more essential."

The Shape of Water filmmaker joins the esteemed ranks of BFI Fellows including Elizabeth Taylor, Orson Welles and Martin Scorsese, and, most recently, Tom Cruise, Christopher Nolan, Tilda Swinton and Spike Lee.

As part of the Fellowship celebrations throughout May, Del Toro will take part in a career retrospective talk at London's BFI Southbank on 8 May, make a special visit to the BFI National Archive, and deliver a series of Masterclasses to a group of aspiring filmmakers from the BFI Film Academy. His 1992 debut, Cronos, will also be re-released in U.K. cinemas on 15 May.