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Miami Dade College’s (MDC) Miami Film Festival GEMS (MFF) has announced that Gus Van Sant will receive one of the Precious Gem Awards.
He will receive the award immediately following a screening of his latest film, Dead Man’s Wire, during a live recording of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast moderated by Scott Feinberg, executive editor of Awards, in front of a festival audience.
The event will take place on Monday, Nov. 3, 7 p.m., at Cosford Cinema. GEMS will take place Oct. 29-Nov. 5 and continue its tradition of celebrating this year’s top films and award contenders.
“We are honored to present Gus Van Sant with our prestigious Precious Gem Award, celebrating a career that has shaped modern cinema with films like Good Will Hunting, To Die For and Milk,” said Lauren Cohen, Miami Film Festival programming director. “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.”
Featuring captivating performances from Bill Skarsgård, Dacre Montgomery, Colman Domingo, and Al Pacino, Gus Van Sant’s Dead Man’s Wire is the feature screenwriting debut of Austin Kolodney. The film recreates the strange, fascinating true story of the 1977 kidnapping that made aspiring Indianapolis entrepreneur Tony Kiritsis into an eccentric outlaw folk hero.
Gus Van Sant was born in Louisville, KY. His many features include the festival official selections: Drugstore Cowboy, My Own Private Idaho, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, To Die For, Gerry, Elephant, Paranoid Park and Restless as well as Good Will Hunting which was nominated for Best Picture and Best Director at the Academy Awards.
Van Sant will join previously announced honorees Ethan Hawke (Variety Virtuoso Award) and Dylan O’Brien (Vanguard Award). The Precious Gem Award is the festival’s signature award, reserved for one-of-a-kind artists whose contributions to cinema are lasting and unforgettable. Past Precious Gem recipients included Pedro Almodóvar, Ramin Bahrani, Penelope Cruz, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Isabelle Huppert, Melanie Lynskey, Rita Moreno, Sheryl Lee Ralph, and Sebastian Stan.
The complete Miami Film Festival GEMS lineup and schedule is available at www.miamifilmfestival.com.
AboutMiami Film Festival
Miami Dade College celebrates cinema in two annual events, Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival GEMS (Oct. 29-Nov. 5) and Miami Film Festival (43rd annual edition Apr 9-19, 2026). The Miami Film Festival is considered the preeminent film festival for showcasing Ibero-American cinema in the U.S., and a major launch pad for all international and documentary cinema.
The annual festival welcomes more than 45,000 audience members and more than 400 filmmakers, producers, talent and industry professionals. In the past five years, the festival has screened films from more than 60 countries, including 300 World, International, North American, U.S. and East Coast Premieres. The festival also offers unparalleled educational opportunities to film students and the community at large.
For more information, visit miamifilmfestival.com or call 305-237-FILM (3456).
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