March 1, 2026
AFI Catalog Spotlight – Cleo Madison
March 2, 2026 Cleo Madison – AFI Catalog Spotlight In honor of Women’s History Month, the AFI Catalog shines a spotlight on actress and director Cleo Madison, a pioneer in early American filmmaking and one of many women who helped shape the industry in its formative years through work across all areas of production. At...
March 1, 2024
AFI Catalog Spotlight: “Behind the Veil” Research on Short Films and Diversity in Early Hollywood
In honor of Women’s History Month, we are shining a spotlight on the work being done by the AFI Catalog researchers for “Behind the Veil,” AFI’s landmark initiative to study thousands of short films released in the silent and early sound eras and chronicle the groundbreaking work of female and BIPOC pioneers who were working...
March 1, 2023
AFI Alum Mindy Johnson Restores Legacy of Early Animator Bessie Mae Kelley
Bessie Mae Kelley's vaudeville circular promotional photograph. Courtesy of Manitou Productions. While the work of early male animators, including Max and Dave Fleischer (BETTY BOOP) and Walter Lantz (WOODY WOODPECKER), has been historically well-documented, the essential contributions of early women animators have often been overlooked, minimized or erased over the years. In honor of Women’s...
February 28, 2023
Women’s History Month Movie Guide
Join us in celebrating Women’s History Month by shining a light on iconic women characters! This month, AFI is highlighting a select list of films featuring extraordinary and groundbreaking fictional and nonfictional women from movies that have been named to our AFI lists, honored with AFI AWARDS, programmed at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural...
March 1, 2021
AFI Catalog Spotlight: “Women They Talk About”
Women were forerunners of the film industry. In honor of Women’s History Month, the AFI Catalog Spotlight is focused on Women They Talk About, an NEH-funded AFI initiative documenting the widely unrecorded contributions of female filmmakers in the silent film era and uncovering the true story of women’s pioneering role in the creation of American...
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