March 26, 2020
AFI Alumni Projects Streaming Online
With movie audiences across the country taking COVID-19 precautions and staying at home, AFI would like to take this opportunity to celebrate the recent work of alumni. And you can help support our alumni too! Whether it’s a long-awaited digital premiere or a first-run theatrical release headed to VOD early, be sure to check out…
March 4, 2020
AFI Alum Heidi Levitt On Collaborating With Directors and Casting Sally Potter’s New Film
AFI alumna Heidi Levitt (Class of 1987) has established herself as a versatile casting director and producer, crisscrossing artistic mediums from theater to television to film to commercials. Her new film, THE ROADS NOT TAKEN, recently had its World Premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival. Reuniting with director Sally Potter for the fourth time,…
February 4, 2020
Production Designer Yong Ok Lee on her Sundance films MINARI and THE FAREWELL
Following her work on the critically-acclaimed THE FAREWELL – a 2019 AFI AWARDS recipient, AFI alum Yong Ok Lee (Production Design, Class of 2013) returned to Sundance for the second year in a row with MINARI – which won the U.S. dramatic grand jury prize and the dramatic audience award at this year’s festival. The film, inspired by director…
January 30, 2020
AFI Member Spotlight: Elika Portnoy on Producing and Premiering NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS at Sundance
Producer and AFI National Council member Elika Portnoy’s critically acclaimed new film NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS follows a teenage girl and her best friend’s perilous journey from their native Pennsylvania to New York City to obtain an abortion. Directed by indie auteur Eliza Hittman, the film recently premiered at Sundance and is set to be…
January 7, 2020
AFI Alum Scott Silver Scores BAFTA and WGA Nominations for JOKER
Congratulations to AFI alum and Academy Award®-nominated screenwriter Scott Silver who received a BAFTA nomination and a WGA nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for co-writing JOKER, alongside writer/director Todd Phillips. This marks his second BAFTA and WGA nominations, after he was nominated for Best Original Screenplay for THE FIGHTER in 2011. JOKER, which premiered at…
December 18, 2019
Alex Michaelides On Writing “The Silent Patient,” Uma Thurman’s Advice & Plan B Optioning the Movie Rights
When Alex Michaelides (AFI Class of 2004) released his first novel “The Silent Patient” earlier this year, he not only had a taut and spellbinding psychological thriller on his hands, but also a hit novel that debuted at #1 on The New York Times Best Sellers List. Michaelides studied English literature at Cambridge University, received…
November 13, 2019
AFI FEST Interview: Dr. Stacy Smith on the Erasure of Latinx in Film
The AFI Summit with Eva Longoria And Dr. Stacy Smith on the Erasure of Latinx in Film will take place at AFI FEST on Friday, November 15 at the Hollywood Roosevelt. It’s no secret that Latinos are overwhelmingly underrepresented both in front of and behind the scenes in Hollywood. However, this summer Dr. Stacy Smith…
November 12, 2019
AFI FEST Interview: QUEEN & SLIM’s Lead Actor Daniel Kaluuya
QUEEN & SLIM is the Opening Night film at AFI FEST on Thursday, November 14 at the TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood. QUEEN & SLIM is the powerful feature directorial debut of AFI alum Melina Matsoukas from a provocative and poetic script written by Lena Waithe. The film starts on a cold night in the…
November 11, 2019
AFI FEST Interview: RICHARD JEWELL Lead Actor Paul Walter Hauser
RICHARD JEWELL will screen as part of a Gala presentation at AFI FEST on Wednesday, November 20 at the TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood. Directed by Clint Eastwood and based on true events, RICHARD JEWELL is a story about what happens when what is reported as fact obscures the truth. The world is first introduced…
November 9, 2019
AFI FEST Interview: JUST MERCY Director/Co-Writer Destin Daniel Cretton
JUST MERCY plays as a Special Screening at AFI FEST on Saturday, November 16 at the TCL Chinese Theatres in Hollywood. Writer/director Destin Daniel Cretton is an indie darling with credits, including the award-winning drama SHORT TERM 12 and THE GLASS CASTLE — an adaptation of Jeannette Walls’ 2005 bestselling memoir. This spring Marvel came…
November 8, 2019
AFI FEST Interview: HALA Writer/Director Minhal Baig
HALA plays as part of the New Auteurs section at AFI FEST at the TCL Chinese Theatres on Monday, November 18 and Wednesday, November 20. Buy tickets to the screening here. Writer/director Minhal Baig has steadily proven herself a force within the independent film world with her first feature, ONE NIGHT, and now HALA, which…
November 6, 2019
AFI FEST Interview: AND THEN WE DANCED Writer/Director Levan Akin
AND THEN WE DANCED plays as part of the World Cinema section at AFI FEST at the TCL Chinese Theatres on Wednesday, November 20 and Thursday, November 21. Buy tickets to the screening here. Premiering in the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes, Levan Akin’s third feature, AND THEN WE DANCED, is about a young dancer struggling…
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