Javier Bardem to receive Rome Film Festival lifetime achievement award from Paolo Sorrentino

Javier Bardem is set to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Rome Film Festival, adding another major honour to a career that has made him one of Spain’s most internationally recognised actors. The Oscar winning star will receive the award from acclaimed Italian filmmaker Paolo Sorrentino during the festival, which takes place in Rome from October 13 to October 25, 2026. The dates have been confirmed by Fondazione Cinema per Roma, which oversees the event.

Bardem will also be part of the festival programme through The Beloved, directed by Rodrigo Sorogoyen. The Spanish film, titled El ser querido in its original language, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year and will be presented in Rome as part of the Best of the Fests section.

In the film, Bardem plays Esteban Martinez, an acclaimed filmmaker whose personal history is marked by violence and excess. After years of distance from his daughter, the two reconnect when they decide to make a film together. His daughter is an actress struggling to establish herself, and their professional reunion forces both characters to confront painful parts of their shared past.

The Rome recognition arrives during a particularly busy period for Bardem, who has continued to combine major international productions with Spanish language cinema. His recent festival appearances have included Venice, where he was present with Florian Zeller’s Bunker. The film stars Bardem and his wife Penelope Cruz as a married couple whose relationship begins to fracture after his character, an architect, agrees to construct a survivalist bunker for a technology billionaire.

Bardem is also preparing for the release of Dune: Part Three, in which he returns as Stilgar, the leader of the Fremen tribe who supports Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides. The Denis Villeneuve directed science fiction film is among the actor’s most anticipated upcoming projects and continues his association with one of the biggest film franchises of recent years.

The actor has also completed work on Amazon MGM Studios’ Hello & Paris, in which he stars opposite Kate Hudson, giving him another high profile project alongside his major theatrical appearances.

Sorrentino presenting the Rome honour adds a notable connection between two major figures in contemporary cinema. The Italian director won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film for The Great Beauty, and his work has earned international recognition for its distinctive visual style and focus on complex characters.

For Bardem, the lifetime achievement award arrives after decades of acclaimed performances across Spanish, European and American cinema. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, becoming the first Spanish actor to win an acting Oscar.

His career has also included films such as Before Night Falls, Biutiful, Skyfall, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Being the Ricardos. His performances have repeatedly placed him at the centre of major international productions while maintaining strong ties to Spanish cinema.

The Rome Film Festival has a history of recognising major filmmakers and performers with lifetime achievement honours. Recent recipients have included Richard Linklater and Jafar Panahi in 2025, while earlier editions have honoured figures including Viggo Mortensen, Isabella Rossellini and Quentin Tarantino.