AFI Conservatory Films Nominated For 2015 Student Academy Awards

The AFI Conservatory swept the 2015 Student Academy Awards with the most nominations of any film school in all of this year’s categories, dominating the Narrative category with the four of the seven nominees: DAY ONE directed by Henry Hughes (AFI Class of 2014) The short film’s credits include AFI Class of 2014 alumni: director/writer Henry…

Russell Crowe Remembers Late Cinematographer Andrew Lesnie

Earlier this week, Russell Crowe stopped by AFI for a special showing of his feature film directorial debut, THE WATER DIVINER, which was followed by a special post-screening talk with the Oscar-winner and AFI Conservatory Fellows – all part of the Conservatory’s Harold Lloyd Masters Seminar series. One of the things Crowe touched upon during…

260 Fellows to Watch

This morning, Variety published its list of the “110 Students to Watch.” It’s an article full of promising talent that we at AFI celebrate enthusiastically. But you won’t see any current AFI Conservatory Fellows listed there because we chose not to nominate any of them for the article. Why? Because there is just too much…

AFI Conservatory Films Win at 68th Cannes Film Festival

At this year’s Cannes Film Festival, we’re proud to report that the AFI Conservatory Directing Workshop for Women (DWW) alumna Pippa Bianco (AFI DWW, Class of 2014) was awarded First Prize by the Cinéfondation Jury for her AFI short film SHARE at the 68th Cannes Film Festival. SHARE, a film produced by the AFI Conservatory Directing…

AFI Statement on the Tragic Event in Louisiana

Bob Gazzale, President and CEO of the American Film Institute, issued the following statement in response to the tragic event in Lafayette, Louisiana. “Going to a summer movie is a celebration of the American creative spirit and one of our nation’s most beloved pastimes. Let us stand together in these times of tragedy and embrace…

The AFI DOCS Interview: THE RUSSIAN WOODPECKER’s Chad Gracia

In the AFI DOCS film THE RUSSIAN WOODPECKER, a young, eccentric Ukrainian artist named Fedor Alexandrovich — just four years old when the Chernobyl disaster struck — seeks to learn more about what happened at the nuclear plant. Fedor becomes fascinated with the Duga — a massive, Soviet-constructed radio antenna near the Chernobyl site that remains...

The AFI Interview: Bob Byington

Writer and director Bob Byington’s film SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME was an official selection at AFI FEST 2012 presented by Audi. We caught up with the filmmaker before the world premiere of his latest film at South by Southwest 2015, 7 CHINESE BROTHERS. In the last few years since your film SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES…

The AFI Interview: Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen

By now you've heard all about THE INTERVIEW, which stars James Franco and Seth Rogen as a pair of bumbling journalists who unexpectedly land an interview (hence the title) with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. Last month, the film was all over the news and cinema chains began pulling the film from their theaters ahead of its Christmas Day release....

50 Years Later, AFI is Back at the White House:

Right now, AFI DOCS is in full swing showing some of the best documentaries in the heart of Washington, DC. It’s a unique and influential festival but this year’s entry is particularly meaningful. That’s because the 2015 festival marks the 50 year anniversary of the origin of AFI in the nation’s capital – right in the White House Rose Garden. AFI…

The AFI DOCS Interview: AMONG THE BELIEVERS Filmmakers: Jonathan Goodman, Mohammed Naqv and Hemal Trivedi

Within Pakistan’s borders a violent clash between ideologies has been ongoing between radical Muslim extremists and moderates that is shaping the path of the country’s future. Across Pakistan an organization called the Red Mosque runs schools that isolate young students from their parents and train them to dedicate their lives to jihad. The powerful film AMONG…

The AFI DOCS Interview: THE STORM MAKERS’ Guillaume Suon

Every year, hundreds of thousands of young Cambodians go abroad, lured by promises of well-paid work. Nearly a third will be enslaved, forced to work without pay and subjected to beatings and sexual violence. In his film THE STORM MAKERS, French-Cambodian filmmaker Guillaume Suon exposes the human-trafficking industry perpetuating this misery through revealing interviews with a...

The AFI DOCS Interview: FRESH DRESSED’s Sacha Jenkins

In the AFI DOCS film FRESH DRESSED, filmmaker Sacha Jenkins offers a fun and colorful history lesson in hip-hop fashion through the decades. The fashion trends which were initially born out of a mix of ingenuity, creativity and swagger soon found their way onto high-fashion runways and into suburban closets in middle America. The film...
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