AFI Silver Kicks Off Coppola Tribute Tonight with Life Achievement Showcase

Silver Spring, MD-September 13, 2025. The AFI Silver Theatre & Cultural Center opens a two-day tribute to legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola tonight at 6 p.m., celebrating his 50th AFI Life Achievement Award with a retrospective of his landmark films.

A showcase of Coppola’s career highlights, the event underlines his influence on American cinema and offers audiences a rare opportunity to experience his work on the big screen in Silver Spring.

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Honoring the visionary director behind The Godfather trilogy and Apocalypse Now, AFI Silver’s program underscores Coppola’s enduring legacy, from his independent spirit to his mastery of bold storytelling. This tribute coincides with the network broadcast of The AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Francis Ford Coppola on TNT, reinforcing the significance of his contributions to film.

Tribute Screenings: A Cinematic Journey

• Saturday, Sept. 13, 6:00 p.m.: Opening night features The Godfather (1972), the film that redefined gangster drama and won three Academy Awards.
• Sunday, Sept. 14, 6:00 p.m.: The series concludes with Apocalypse Now: Final Cut (2019), Coppola’s hallucinatory Vietnam epic, showcasing his fearless approach to filmmaking.

Tickets are available through the AFI Silver box office and website, with special packages offering passes to both evenings.

Celebrating a Half-Century of Film

AFI President and CEO Bob Gazzale remarked, “Coppola’s independent ethos transformed American cinema. His willingness to take risks-selling vineyards to finance Megalopolis-inspires every filmmaker striving to tell stories on their own terms.”

George Lucas, Coppola’s longtime collaborator and co-founder of American Zoetrope, joins tonight’s opening remarks via a pre-recorded message, praising Coppola for nurturing generations of artists since the late 1960s.

Looking Ahead: Television Special

Following the Silver Tribute, The AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Francis Ford Coppola premieres on TNT tonight at 9 p.m. EDT, with an encore on TCM next month, offering viewers nationwide a front-row seat to the star-studded gala originally held in April at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

This weekend’s AFI Silver event cements Francis Ford Coppola’s status as an icon whose films continue to shape and challenge cinematic art.