American Film Institute
Names Liza deVilla Ameen
Chief Marketing Officer
LOS ANGELES, CA, March 21, 2013 – The American Film Institute (AFI) named marketing and communications executive Liza deVilla Ameen as its Chief Marketing Officer.
A comprehensive national search led to the “re-discovery” of Ameen, who served as AFI’s Chief Communications Officer from 2002 to 2004. Ameen will serve as the newest member of AFI’s senior management team and will lead AFI’s national marketing-communications strategies, reinforcing the importance of American film around the world.
“We set out to find an effective marketing leader who will articulate the relevance of the moving image as an art form,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI President and CEO, “and we found her in AFI’s proud past. Liza has a vast, diverse experience in the arts as well as a unique familiarity with AFI, and we’re thrilled to have her back in an expanded role.”
“I’m delighted to return and work with such a stellar team,” said Ameen. “AFI is more than a film arts organization. It’s a national community of movie-lovers – those who make movies and those who love them.”
Ameen’s experience spans over two decades in media, entertainment, arts/culture and philanthropy. Her entertainment background includes Universal Music Group, where she participated in the industry’s response to issues such as online piracy, parental warning labels and artist rights. While based in New York and Washington, DC, Ameen handled global brand marketing and corporate public relations for the Hard Rock Cafe, as well as community affairs for The Washington Post. Her non-profit experience includes the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, where she served as Vice President of Marketing.
Ameen comes to AFI from the Annenberg Foundation, one of the country’s foremost family foundations, where she launched unprecedented projects such as the Annenberg Space for Photography and the Annenberg Community Beach House.
Originally from Washington, DC, Ameen resides in Hollywood, CA with her son and husband, Cinematographer Samuel Ameen, an AFI Conservatory alumnus from the class of 1991.
About the American Film Institute
AFI is America’s promise to preserve the history of the motion picture, to honor the artists and their work and to educate the next generation of storytellers. AFI provides leadership in film, television and digital media and is dedicated to initiatives that engage the past, the present and the future of the moving image arts.
AFI preserves the legacy of America’s film heritage for future generations through the AFI Archive, comprised of rare footage from across the history of the moving image and the AFI Catalog of Feature Films, an authoritative record of American films from 1893 to the present.
AFI honors the artists and their work through a variety of annual programs and special events, including the AFI Life Achievement Award and AFI Awards. Celebrating its 41st year in 2013, the AFI Life Achievement Award has remained the highest honor for a career in film while AFI Awards, the Institute’s almanac for the 21st century, honors the most outstanding motion pictures and television programs of the year. AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies television events and movie reference lists have introduced and reintroduced classic American movies to millions of film lovers. And as the largest nonprofit exhibitor in the United States, AFI offers film enthusiasts a variety of events throughout the year, including AFI Fest presented by Audi, the Institute’s annual year-end celebration of artistic excellence in cinema; AFI Docs, the largest documentary festival in the U.S.; and year-round programming at the AFI Silver Theatre in the Washington, DC area.
AFI educates the next generation of storytellers at its AFI Conservatory, which has been consistently recognized as one of the world’s top film schools, boasting alumni including Darren Aronofsky, Patty Jenkins, Janusz Kamiński, Heidi Levitt, Matthew Libatique, David Lynch, Terrence Malick, Wally Pfister, Robert Richardson, Ed Zwick and so many more. AFI Conservatory offers a two-year Master of Fine Arts degree in six filmmaking disciplines: Cinematography, Directing, Editing, Producing, Production Design and Screenwriting. Aspiring artists learn from the masters in a collaborative, hands-on production environment with an emphasis on storytelling.
