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Diversity in film education, an essential first step toward diversity in filmmaking, received a big boost today as the American Film Institute announced a half million-dollar grant from the Time Warner Foundation. The grant will create five full scholarships to the AFI Conservatory for applicants from communities traditionally under-represented in film and television.

The new Time Warner Foundation Fellowships, as they will be known, reflect the notable increase in scholarship opportunities for both current and incoming Fellows at the AFI Conservatory. More than $6.2 million has been raised this year for the highly selective program of approximately 260 Fellows.

“Diversity is often the essential spark that catalyzes the creative process," said Bob Gazzale, President and CEO of the American Film Institute. "We are honored that Time Warner Foundation has chosen the AFI Conservatory as the place to illustrate their global commitment to ensuring new voices in America's art form."

The first of these five scholarships was issued this Fall 2013 to Adriana González-Vega, a first-year AFI Directing Fellow whose thesis film FRENTE AL MAR (OCEANFRONT) won the Renée Crown University Honors' Orlin Prize, Best Student Film at Carmel Art and Film Festival and was an official selection at the Montreal World Film Festival. González-Vega received a BFA in Film from Syracuse University and studied abroad at the Film and TV School of Academy of Performing Arts in the Czech Republic where she directed a 35mm narrative short film. She lists among her influences a wide range of filmmakers such as Luis Buñuel, Satyajit Ray, Pedro Almodóvar and Sally Potter. 

The American Film Institute notes with sorrow the passing of actors Peter O’Toole (1932-2013), Joan Fontaine (1917-2013) and Tom Laughlin (1931-2013)  – all within the last few days. 

O’Toole’s performance in David Lean’s LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962) remains one of the most iconic in film history, but in a career spanning half a century, the actor also graced the Shakespearean stage and big screen – as Henry II both in BECKET (1964) and THE LION IN WINTER, in LORD JIM (1965); GOODBYE, MR. CHIPS (1969); THE RULING CLASS (1972); MY FAVORITE YEAR (1982) and VENUS (2006). We remember him in flowing white robes, his clear blue eyes, peering across the desert toward Damascus.

Joan Fontaine, who died in Carmel, California, at the age of 96, will always be remembered for REBECCA (1940) and Alfred Hitchcock’s SUSPICION (1941) for which she won the Academy Award^®, THE CONSTANT NYMPH (1943), JANE EYRE (1943) and IVANHOE (1952). One year younger than her sister Olivia de Havilland, Fontaine was the picture of grace and intelligence opposite such leading men as Lawrence Olivier, Cary Grant and Robert Taylor. Fontaine was licensed as a pilot and an interior decorator. She was a champion balloonist and a Cordon Blue chef.
To paraphrase Shakespeare: “Age could not wither nor custom stale her infinite variety.”

Tom Laughlin found lasting movie fame as the writer, director and star of the BILLY JACK series, in which he played a pacifist ex-Green Beret Native American hapkido expert battling racism during the 1970s. An American original, Laughlin bought advertising during national news broadcasts for THE TRIAL OF BILLY JACK (1974), changing the way films are distributed and marketed to this day. He ran for President three times, started a successful Montessori pre-school in Santa Monica, and also wrote extensively about Jungian psychology and alternative cancer treatments.

AFI MOVIES OF THE YEAR
12 YEARS A SLAVE
AMERICAN HUSTLE
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS
FRUITVALE STATION
GRAVITY
HER
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS
NEBRASKA
SAVING MR. BANKS
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

AFI TV PROGRAMS OF THE YEAR
THE AMERICANS
BREAKING BAD
GAME OF THRONES
THE GOOD WIFE
HOUSE OF CARDS
MAD MEN
MASTERS OF SEX
ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK
SCANDAL
VEEP

An almanac documenting works of excellence that mark a moment in time, AFI AWARDS is also the only national honor for the community’s creative ensembles as a whole, acknowledging the collaborative nature of the art form. Honorees are selected based on works which best advance the art of the moving image, enhance the rich cultural heritage of America’s art form, inspire audiences and artists alike, and/or make a mark on American society.

"AFI AWARDS is a moment for the most accomplished storytellers 0f 2013 to pause and be appreciated – not as competitors, but as a community," said Bob Gazzale, AFI President & CEO.  "Acknowledging their collective contributions to America's rich cultural legacy is both AFI's national mandate – and our honor."

AFI will honor the creative ensembles for each of the selections at an invitation-only luncheon on Friday, January 10, 2014 in Los Angeles, California.

AFI FEST 2013 presented by Audi celebrated another year of excellence in filmmaking. Our sincere thanks go out to all the filmmakers, moviegoers, sponsors, special guests, volunteers and staff who made FEST a cinematic feast. In all, 120 films from 43 countries lit up the screen during the eight days and nights of the festival with 54 AFI alumni represented by 14 films. From Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson at our Opening Night Gala and the North American Premiere of SAVING MR. BANKS, to the U.S. premiere of Italy’s Foreign Language Film Oscar^® submission, THE GREAT BEAUTY, AFI FEST presented by Audi showcased the best in global cinema and today’s Hollywood. We hope you enjoy our Jury and Audience Award winners at the festival in your hometown or at home on Video On Demand. We loved them and think you will, too.

New Auteurs Critic's Award: NOTHING BAD CAN HAPPEN
New Auteurs Special Award for Personal Storytelling: IN BLOOM
New Auteurs Special Award for Direction: THE SELFISH GIANT

Grand Jury Award - Live Action Short: BUTTER LAMP
Grand Jury Award - Animated Short: THE PLACES WHERE WE LIVED
Special Jury Award: BALCONY
Special Jury Award for Outstanding Achievement in Direction: SYNDROMEDA
Special Jury Mention for Best Datamosh: DATAMOSH

World Cinema Audience Award: THE ROCKET
New Auteurs Audience Award: THE SELFISH GIANT
American Independents Audience Award: WE GOTTA GET OUTTA THIS PLACE
Breakthrough Audience Award: B FOR BOY

Now in its 26th year, the AFI European Union Film Showcase continues its tradition of bringing the best in European cinema to Washington, DC, audiences at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center from December 5-22. This year’s selection of more than 50 films from 27 countries includes award-winners, international festival favorites, local box-office hits and debut works by promising new talents, plus many countries' official Oscar^® submissions for Best Foreign Language Film. Among the films slated for this year’s showcase are WALESA, MAN OF HOPE (Poland), SOLDIER JANE (Austria) and recent AFI FEST favorites THE STRANGE LITTLE CAT (Germany) and STRANGER BY THE LAKE (France).

AFI thanks the embassy cultural counselors of the EU member states and the European Union Delegation to the U.S.A. in Washington, DC, for their continuing support of the AFI European Union Film Showcase. Special thanks also to Ambassador and Head of the European Union Delegation to the U.S.A. João Vale de Almeida and the staff of the Delegation for their generous support.

Visit the AFI Silver Theartre website to learn more.

Zach Snyder (300, WATCHMEN) makes violence stylish in films based on graphic novels and CGI technology.  If you’re not in his fanboy orbit, this piece by Christopher Smail in Scene 360 will get you caught up on a popular trend in movies.
http://scene360.com/articles/19281/comic-book-visuals-cgi-and-violence/#.Ukr1IlFBTw4

In the brave new world of crowdfunding, filmmakers have new ways to get their projects off the ground – possibly, with your help.  This piece by David Rosen in Filmmaker Magazine explains the impact of the JOBS Act and equity crowdfunding.
http://filmmakermagazine.com/76264-how-the-jobs-act-and-equity-crowdfunding-will-impact-indie-film/

And while we’re on the subject of crowdfunding, here’s an item from The Village Voice illustrating the phenomenon while raising awareness of the health challenge of Peter Mayhew, the seven-foot three actor who played Chewbacca in the STAR WARS films.
http://www.villagevoice.com/2013-09-11/film/chewbacca-documentary/

As the saying goes, "To give is to receive," which is what Kathy Carroll from Washington, DC, experienced when she gave her daughter Rebecca an AFI gift membership during our Red Carpet Getaway Sweepstakes – Kathy won the drawing!  She and Rebecca walked the red carpet during our Closing Night Gala screening of the Coen brothers’ INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS along with directors Joel and Ethan Coen, John Goodman, Oscar Isaac and Stark Sands. Thanks for the support, Kathy!

If you weren’t able to join us this year, click here for a gallery of photos from other fun events at AFI FEST 2013.

As we count down the remaining days of 2013 we thank all of our supporters who have graciously donated to AFI this year. If you haven’t had a chance to yet, please consider an end of the year contribution to AFI today. AFI works on many initiatives to ensure that America’s rich cultural film heritage will thrive for generations to come, and support from movie lovers like you is the backbone of our efforts. Please consider making an extra contribution or becoming a member today and know that you’re supporting important efforts like digitizing the AFI Archive.

The AFI Archive is over 5,600 hours of audio-visual content of history’s most important filmmakers, including Frank Capra, Federico Fellini, Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston, Sidney Poitier, Jean Renoir, Elizabeth Taylor and many, many more, imparting their wisdom to aspiring film artists at the AFI Conservatory. The preservation of such remarkable material is imperative for our cultural heritage. Your support will help AFI’s efforts to preserve these recordings digitally and upgrade our archive facilities, ensuring that these hours of oral histories and interviews with master filmmakers – a most irreplaceable history – will be shared for generations to come.

We sincerely thank you for a wonderful 2013 and look forward to an even greater 2014 with you. Thank you for your support.

Please make your tax-deductible year-end contribution here or become a member here.

Congratulations to Justin Thompson of Fresno, California – winner of our Reader Survey Sweepstakes and recipient of a new Kindle Fire. In addition to Justin, 50 more American Film™ readers from all over the country received copies of the VISIONS OF LIGHT DVD on cinematography for being the first to respond. Thanks again to everyone who completed our survey – more than 1,600 of you! Your information will help determine the future direction of our magazine.

Somehow, we managed to squeeze in a few minutes with Stephanie Nye, AFI's Web Programmer, Creative Services, during the "crazy-busy" run-up to this year's AFI FEST. We spoke to Nye in her Manor House office on the Institute's Hollywood Campus. Known throughout the organization as a great team player, Nye's answer to our second question made perfect sense.

1. What do you do at AFI? I'm responsible for AFI.com, which includes AFI's program sites such as AFI Conservatory, AFI Fest, AFI Silver Theatre, AFI Docs, American Film, and all of AFI's online transaction web sites. Also, our department sends out all of the e-mail communications, including press releases and the Alumni Connection. I interface with every department at AFI that's represented online.

2. What are you working on today? Today I am working on the AFI FEST web site, our year-end appeal e-mail communications, filmmaker invitations for events at AFI FEST, our daily e-mails that are going to go out during the festival… It's really crazy-busy because of FEST.

3. What was your best day at AFI? I love working here. But I think I was really struck by the first Life Achievement Award I got to go to. I went to the Barbra Streisand Life Achievement Award on the red carpet, taking photos for the web site, and so I got to see everything up close and personal, and that was pretty exciting.

4. How long have you been at AFI? I have been at AFI – off and on – since 2000, but I've been full-time since 2005. So what is that? Eight years?

5. What don't your colleagues know about you? I think one thing they don't know about me – because they know most things about me – is that I love to country-western dance. I know how to two-step and line-dance, and I've been doing it since I was in my 20s.

6. What did you do before you came to AFI? Before I came to AFI, I had a web design business. And the way I got into web design and programming was that I was a silk-screener. I worked for companies in Seattle and New York. Then I had my own business, silk-screening on t-shirts. I had a line of gay and lesbian t-shirts that I sold at pride events and the March on Washington. I wanted to sell t-shirts online so I taught myself how to build websites.

7. Where did you grow up and attend school? I am from just outside Seattle – Mountlake Terrace. I went to Edmonds Community College on a basketball scholarship. It's right near where I grew up – in one of the adjacent towns. I played center in high school and forward in college.

8. What's your favorite film? Favorite film – dan-dan-DAAAN! I love film in general. It's easier for me to say what I don't like. My least favorite kind of films are horror and scary films because I think I watched too many of them as a kid. But I couldn't even narrow it down to a genre. I love comedies, I love dramas, I love sappy movies, I love action films. But, if you want to pick a few, I love THE PRINCESS BRIDE, I love BABY MAMA from a few years ago. CADDYSHACK and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK are also two of my all-time favorites.