"F1" movie star Damson Idris presented AMFF award by producer Jerry Bruckheimer

F1 movie star Damson Idris has received the Horizon Award, presented by producer Jerry Bruckheimer, at the American Black Film Festival.

Prior to F1, the British actor starred in John Singleton's crime drama Snowfall from 2017 to 2023, and has made appearances in Black Mirror and Outside the Wire, among other films and series.

“The early auditions, the rejections, the small wins that meant everything,” the British actor said, according to Variety.

“And now to be here, the past few years, stretching me in ways I didn’t expect. Stepping into the world of Formula 1 recently, the scale of precision working alongside some of the absolute greats sharpens you. It reminds you to stay a student no matter where you are.”

Idris portrayed rookie driver Joshua Pearce in F1 alongside Brad Pitt who played nomadic driver Sonny Hayes. The film follows Hayes as he returns to F1 with the struggling APXGP team, owned by his former team-mate Rubén Cervantes (played by Javier Bardem). Both Hayes and Pearce have the final nine races of the season to win a race to save the APXGP team from being sold.

Since its release in June 2025, F1 has exceeded $630million at the global box office and has celebrated a strong awards season so far. The success has unsurprisingly led to conversations about a sequel, which Bruckheimer recently confirmed was in the works. 

"We're working on a sequel," the producer told the BBC.

"It was a long journey to get the movie made because we had to endure a couple of strikes – but in the end, the movie entertained audiences around the world," he said of F1 at the Academy Awards luncheon in Los Angeles. "I never worked with Brad Pitt before, and it's really a thrill to work with Brad."