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…
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 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…
November 5, 2019
AFI FEST Interview: QUEEN & SLIM Writer Lena Waithe
Although initially known as an onscreen performer, Lena Waithe turned heads when she wrote the poignant Thanksgiving episode of MASTER OF NONE in which, over a series of Thanksgivings, a young woman embraces her sexuality as she struggles to come out to her family. Not only was the episode critically hailed, but it also earned…
October 21, 2019
From the Big Top to the Rooftop: AFI Member Gerry Cottle Talks Growing up in the Circus and Founding Rooftop Cinema Club
Performing and entertaining is undoubtedly in Gerry Cottle Jr.’s blood. He is the son of not one, but two circus performers. His father ran away from home at 15 to join the circus where he eventually married Betty Fossett, the daughter of another circus showman. He grew up in the circus, but rather than get…
September 12, 2019
AFI Sweeps the Student Academy Awards Narrative Category
Today the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced the winners of the 46th Student Academy Awards with AFI filmmakers from the Class of 2018, including Asher Jelinsky for MILLER & SON, Hao Zheng for THE CHEF and Omer Ben-Shachar for TREE #3, sweeping the Narrative category for second time in history. Also this…
September 11, 2019
Renaissance Woman Mel Jones on her New Role At Confluential Films & Creating More Inclusive Stories
Not one to rest on her laurels, Mel Jones (AFI Class of 2010) is not only developing a complex and diverse new television series, but also stepping into a challenging, central role as Confluential Films’ Executive Vice President of Production and Development. Fresh off five years as Head of Production at Homegrown Pictures, Jones has…
August 19, 2019
Applications Open for Screen Australia-Onbass Fellowship to Attend AFI
For the second year in a row, screen industry veteran and philanthropist Greg Basser and his wife Kiera O’Neill will generously award the Screen Australia-Onbass Fellowship to an Australian citizen or permanent resident to attend the AFI Conservatory. Basser has been a long-time supporter of the Australian screen industry, and has been instrumental in building...
Donate today and join the nation’s strongest community of film lovers.
AFI is a 501c3 non-profit advancing the art of the moving image by empowering storytellers and inspiring audiences
