Miami Film Festival Gems Announces Special Guest Ethan Hawke

The actor will accept Variety's Virtuoso Award and participate in a Q&A about his storied career.

September 10, 2025

The actor's performance in Blue Moon, directed by longtime collaborator Richard Linklater, is generating Oscar buzz. Photo by Francois Berthier

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The Miami Film Festival's fall mini-festival, Gems, returns next month, from October 29 to November 5, and while its lineup has not yet been announced, details are starting to emerge about what cinephiles can expect this year. Today, the festival announced Academy Award-nominated actor Ethan Hawke will make an appearance to accept Variety's Virtuoso Award at Miami Dade College Wolfson Auditorium. The actor and author will also participate in a Q&A about his work with Variety co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh.

"With more than 70 credits in films — we all have our favorite Ethan Hawke movie — and a career that includes TV, theater, directing, and even writing novels, [Hawke] is the definition of an artist who continues to reinvent himself," Setoodeh said in a statement. "There is no one more deserving of the Variety Virtuoso Award."

"From his breakout role in Dead Poets Society to acclaimed performances in films like Before Sunrise, Training Day, and Boyhood, Ethan has built one of the most dynamic and enduring careers in modern cinema," said Lauren Cohen, Miami Film Festival's director of programming.

That career is still going strong, with Hawke's latest role in longtime collaborator Richard Linklater's Blue Moon already generating Oscar buzz.

The biographical film, which premiered at the 75th Berlin International Film Festival in February and received a Golden Bear nomination, stars Hawke as Broadway songwriter Lorenz Hart alongside Margaret Qualley, Bobby Cannavale, and Andrew Scott.
The movie currently has a 97 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney wrote, "Blue Moon is a deceptively modest project, but it's beautifully executed and fascinatingly nuanced despite being quite straightforward in terms of plot."

Hawke has made some of his most beloved films with Linklater, including the Before trilogy and the Best Picture-nominated Boyhood. His prolific Hollywood career also includes blockbusters like Training Day and The Purge, alongside cult classics like Gattaca and Reality Bites. He's also performed on Broadway in productions like Macbeth, True West, and The Seagull.

Ahead of Gems' arrival, Miami Film Festival will host a program launch event on September 30, featuring the screening of Luca Guadagnino's latest psychological drama, After the Hunt, starring Julia Roberts, Ayo Edebiri, and Andrew Garfield.

Formerly known as MIFFecito, Gems began in 2014 to showcase many of the award-winning films from that year's festival circuit, especially those with a high chance of dominating the award season conversation.

Ethan Hawke at Gems 2025. 7 p.m. Sunday, November 2, at Miami Dade College Wolfson Auditorium, 300 NE Second Ave., Miami; 305-237-3300; miamifilmfestival.com/festival/gems.

Gems 2025. Wednesday, October 29, through Wednesday, November 5. miamifilmfestival.com/festival/gems.

Jose D. Duran is the former senior music editor of Miami New Times. His work has also appeared in publications likeVice, Billboard, and Spin. He’s earned numerous accolades including placing first for Weekly Newspaper Contest: Business Reporting from the Florida Press Association in 2020; placing third for the Writing: Light Feature from the Florida Press Club in 2019; and placing third in Weekly Newspaper Contest: Best Obituary from the Florida Press Association in 2015.

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