
June 11, 2020
Watch: Alejandro González Iñárritu on Filmmaking
Academy Award®-winning director Alejandro González Iñárritu joined a virtual conversation to speak to AFI Fellows about his lauded career from the challenges he faced in financing BIRDMAN to the demanding rigors of filming THE REVENANT. In these exclusive videos, Iñárritu speaks on a range wide of topics, including his time as DJ. Iñárritu talks to…

June 10, 2020
AFI Conservatory Films to be Featured on ShortsTV
AFI films will join the world’s largest catalog of short form video entertainment and soon be available in over 100 million households across all ShortsTV channels, including ShortsTV India and TVCortos in Latin America. The newly signed deal grants ShortsTV the rights to 100 short films from the AFI Conservatory, including the Academy Award®-winning MY…

May 25, 2020
AFI Movie Club: THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES
Watch today’s film on TCM tonight at 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT / 7 p.m. CT. AFI Life Achievement Award recipient William Wyler helmed THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES – deemed not only one of the greatest American films by AFI but also one of the art form’s most inspiring stories. Movie Trivia…

January 13, 2020
Did You Know? The first X-rated film to be nominated for an Academy Award was…
Fifty years ago this year, MIDNIGHT COWBOY was the first X-rated film to be nominated for and win an Academy Award. It won an Oscar for Best Picture, Directing and Writing at the 42 Academy Awards on April 7, 1970. Despite the X-rating, which prevented a wide release, it became one of the top-grossing films…

January 13, 2020
AFI Alums earn Oscar Noms
On January 13, 2020, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for the 92nd Academy Awards®. Congratulations to the following AFI Conservatory alumni for their Oscar nominations: Scott Silver (AFI Class of 1992) Best Adapted Screenplay – JOKER Robert Richardson (AFI Class of 1979) Best Cinematography – ONCE UPON A TIME…IN…

December 17, 2019
AFI Alumni Shortlisted for Academy Awards
Congratulations to the AFI thesis film MILLER & SON which has been shortlisted for an Academy Award® in the Live Action Short Film category! It was just two months ago that MILLER AND SON director Asher Jelinsky (AFI Class of 2018) won a Gold Medal at the Student Academy Awards®. And STAY CLOSE, a labor…

November 22, 2019
AFI FEST 2019 Announces Audience and Jury Awards, 2020 Dates
AFI FEST 2019 presented by Audi announced today the films that received this year’s Jury and Audience awards. The Shorts section, which included 40 films from filmmakers from all over the world showcasing their distinct international viewpoints, was the only juried section of the festival. The Grand Jury Award winners for Live Action and Animated…

October 29, 2019
AFI Alumnus David Lynch Receives Honorary Oscar
On October 27, the Academy of Arts and Sciences awarded David Lynch (AFI Class of 1970) with an honorary Oscar® at the Governors Awards. The award was presented by his long-time collaborators Kyle MacLachlan, Laura Dern and Isabella Rossellini, and the star-studded audience gave Lynch a standing ovation. Lynch has been previously recognized by the…

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…

January 23, 2018
AFI Conservatory Alumna Rachel Morrison Is First Woman Ever Nominated for Cinematography Oscar
AFI Conservatory alumna Rachel Morrison (AFI Class of 2006) has made history as the first woman ever nominated for an Academy Award® in the Cinematography category, for MUDBOUND.

February 27, 2017
Congratulations to Oscar Winner Asghar Farhadi
At Sunday night’s Academy Awards® ceremony, Iranian director/writer Asghar Farhadi took the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar® for his drama THE SALESMAN. The American Film Institute congratulates Farhadi on his second Oscar win — he won previously for A SEPARATION (2011) — as the filmmaker has served as the AFI Conservatory Artist-in-Residence for the past two…

February 29, 2016
Congrats to AFI Conservatory Alumni on Their Oscar-Winning Films
AFI is proud to highlight the AFI Conservatory alumni featured in the 88th Academy Awards®, which followed an unprecedented awards season run for AFI graduates. Producer Steve Golin (AFI Class of 1981) received the Best Picture Oscar® for SPOTLIGHT. The film’s credits also include cinematographer Masanobu Takayanagi (AFI Class of 2002) with a special thanks to Pulitzer…

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