May 1, 2025
LEGACY – AFI Catalog Spotlight
This month, the AFI Catalog celebrates the 50-year anniversary of director/producer Karen Arthur’s independent film debut LEGACY, which toured festivals in 1975. It was produced for just $46,000 with finishing funds provided in part by the American Film Institute. Around the time that Arthur made LEGACY, she was enrolled in an internship program through AFI...
December 1, 2024
Alumni Spotlight on Editor Maysie Hoy (AFI DWW Class of 1977)
We had the honor of sitting down with acclaimed editor Maysie Hoy (AFI DWW Class of 1977) who will receive the ACE Eddie Career Achievement Award this January. In the 1970s, Maysie began her film career acting in Robert Altman classics, including MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER, NASHVILLE and 3 WOMEN. On set, she gained invaluable...
April 11, 2024
AFI DWW+ 2024 Showcase Launches Next Generation of Directors and Celebrates Program’s 50th Anniversary Honorary Committee
On April 10, AFI celebrated the AFI DWW+ Class of 2024 directors – Vanessa Beletic, Chloë de Carvalho, Desdemona Chiang, Naomi Iwamoto, Huriyyah Muhammad, Joanne Mony Park, Kerry O’Neill and Roxy Toporowych – to a sold-out house at its annual AFI DWW+ showcase at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) in Los Angeles. Launched in...
April 5, 2024
Director and AFI Alum Melina Matsouakas to Give Keynote Address at AFI DWW+ Showcase
DWW+ Class of 2024 to Premiere Films and AFI DWW 50th Anniversary Honorary Committee Unveiled AFI is excited to announce today that AFI Alum Melina Matsoukas (AFI Class of 2005) will deliver the keynote address at the AFI DWW+ Showcase for the Class of 2024 which will take place on Wednesday, April 10 at 7:00...
August 11, 2023
AFI DWW+ Now Accepting Applications for Class of 2024-2025
APPLY NOW AFI is excited to announce applications are now open for the next class of the AFI DWW+ program, a year-long directing workshop that educates traditionally underrepresented narrative filmmakers through the production cycle of a short film, providing hands-on instruction led by industry experts. In 2024, the program will celebrate its 50th anniversary. AFI...
April 3, 2023
Spotlight on Raelle Tucker and Brennan Elizabeth Peters, the Writers and AFI Alumni Behind THE POWER
Emmy®-nominated television writer, producer, and showrunner Raelle Tucker (AFI DWW Class of 2003) first crossed paths with writer Brennan Elizabeth Peters (AFI Class of 2015) when they were paired during AFI’s Writers’ Room Ready program to develop Brennan’s first pilot “The Empress.” Her script not only went on to win the AFI Writers' Room Ready...
January 19, 2023
AFI Announces Participants for DWW+ Class of 2024
AFI is thrilled to announce the participants selected for the AFI DWW+ Class of 2024! AFI DWW+ is a year-long directing workshop that supports women and traditionally underrepresented narrative filmmakers through the production cycle of a short film, providing hands-on instruction led by industry experts. The short films completed in the workshop will premiere at...
June 19, 2020
AFI Movie Club: DOWN AND OUT IN AMERICA
Directed by Academy Award®-winning actor and filmmaker Lee Grant, DOWN AND OUT IN AMERICA chronicles poverty in America, from struggling farmhands to unemployed urban workers to the newly homeless. AFI DOCS honored Grant at this year’s Charles Guggenheim Symposium, which celebrates the legacy of Charles Guggenheim by recognizing a contemporary filmmaker with a profound respect…
June 13, 2020
AFI Movie Club: ALI
ALI stars Will Smith in the title role and features AFI Trustee Jada Pinkett Smith as Sonji Roi. Will and Jada have been key supporters of AFI through the Will & Jada Smith Family Foundation – with an emphasis on supporting and promoting female and nonbinary filmmakers through grants to AFI’s Directing Workshop for Women…
January 15, 2020
AFI Directing Workshop for Women Announces New Class of 2021
Congratulations to the eight new participants selected for the AFI Directing Workshop for Women Class of 2021: Michelle Krusiec, April Maxey, Mary Angélica Molina, April Moreau, Kelly Pike, Jessica Shields, Lucretia Stinnette and Em Weinstein. “We are thrilled to welcome these eight artists into the AFI family and can’t wait to see their unique stories…
October 7, 2019
Universal’s Global Talent Development & Inclusion Group Doubles Number of Filmmakers Selected For 2019 Directors Initiative
American Black Film Festival, New York Latino Film Festival and NBCUniversal Filmmasters Partner With AFI Directing Workshop for Women and Sundance Institute’s FilmTwo Fellowship Today Universal’s Global Talent Development & Inclusion group (GTDI) announced the filmmakers who will participate in the studio’s 2019 Directors Initiative, which exposes directors to the studio production process and connects…
August 6, 2019
Pippa Bianco Discusses the Evolution of Making SHARE and Directing HBO’s Hit Series EUPHORIA
It’s been a busy summer for AFI Directing Workshop for Women (DWW) alumna Pippa Bianco, the talented, rising filmmaker who adapted her Cannes-winning DWW short SHARE into her first feature film. Produced and financed by A24, the film world-premiered at Sundance, where it was quickly scooped up by HBO. In the critically celebrated, riveting and…
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