September 2024 News
AFI Honors the Graduating Class of 2024
We’re excited to congratulate the AFI Class of 2024, who celebrated their graduation from the AFI Conservatory on Saturday, August 10. The ceremony at the iconic TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood was truly memorable, featuring inspiring speeches from Class Representative Allysa Lisbon, Honorary Degree recipient Jamie Lee Curtis, AFI President and CEO Bob Gazzale, and AFI Conservatory Dean Susan Ruskin.
AFI Alumni Projects Featured at Major Fall Film Festivals
As fall festival season approaches, we’re thrilled to see AFI Conservatory graduates continue to make waves with their dynamic new work! Discover the latest projects from your fellow Alumni featured at the 2024 Telluride, Toronto and Venice Film Festivals.
Explore the Stellar Work Created by AFI Cinematography and Production Design Fellows
This summer, we proudly celebrated the exceptional creativity of our Class of 2024 graduates at the 2024 Cinematography and Production Design Showcases. Click the links above to view some of the beautiful creations from our Production Design Fellows and watch the captivating visual essays masterfully captured on 35mm by our Cinematographer Fellows!
DWW+ Applications Now Open!
AFI is now accepting applications for the DWW+ Class of 2026. Deadline to apply is September 13, 2024. We’re looking for up to eight exceptional candidates who are passionate about visual storytelling and looking to advance their careers. Check out the DWW+ admissions requirements and share this opportunity with your networks!
Admission Readers Wanted!
Application season is here, and the Admissions Office needs Alumni reviewers and interviewers for Fall 2025. We are particularly looking for reviewers in the Cinematography, Directing, Editing, Producing and Screenwriting disciplines. Reviewers will read applications from December 4, 2024–January 9, 2025, while interviewers participate between January 21–February 28, 2025. Learn more and complete your application by Friday, October 18, 2024, at 1:00 p.m. PST to help select the next class of AFI Fellows! If you have any questions, reach out directly to Brian Hostenske, Manager of Admissions at BHostenske@AFI.edu.
Visit the Lawrence Herbert Alumni Center
Looking to organize a meeting, table read or rehearsal? Just a reminder, that one of the exclusive benefits of being an AFI Conservatory Alumni is that you can book our conference and multi-purpose rooms at the Lawrence Herbert Alumni Center on campus. Reach out to our Alumni Affairs team at alumni@AFI.com for more details and to check availability.
Connect with Fellow AFI Alumni on Backlot
Are you seeking collaborators, creative guidance or the opportunity to mentor fellow AFI Alumni and help them navigate the industry? Interested in receiving weekly updates to stay informed about the latest news happening in the AFI Community? Sign up for AFI Backlot today to engage and enrich our community!
Request an AFI Email
Would you like an AFI email address to facilitate easier communication with other AFI Conservatory Alumni? Or are you a recent graduate who requires assistance with your AFI Alumni Account? If so, please reach out to our Alumni Affairs team today.
In Other AFI News…
AWARDS, GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS AND OTHER HONORS
Writer/director/producer Phill Branch (AFI Class of 2001) won an Emmy® Award for his documentary HAMPTON UNIVERSITY: ONE OF THE WONDERS OF THE WORLD. The film screened at the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival, the Harlem International Film Festival and was a finalist at the Charlotte Black Film Festival. The film is currently available to watch on PBS platforms.
Writer, director, producer and editor Paul Kowalski (AFI Class of 2015) won Best Director for his film SARDINIA at the 42nd Flickers Rhode Island International Film Festival
The American Society of Cinematographers named Jo Jo Lam (AFI Class of 2020) as one of the 2024 Rising Stars of Cinematography. Learn more about Lam’s journey as an accomplished cinematographer below.
Congratulations to AFI Fellow Lily Malm (AFI Class of 2026) who was named as a 2024 PAGE Awards Quarter-Finalist, alongside Laila Matuk, for their script SCENT OF MARIGOLD.
Three episodes of the docuseries SOUL OF A NATION – “The New Face of Hollywood,” “Black in Vegas,” and “Freedom to Exist” – were nominated for News and Documentary Emmy® Awards. Congratulations to AFI Faculty member Michael Pessah (AFI Class of 2004) who was part of the cinematographer team that brought these powerful stories to life.
Congratulations to our talented AFI Alumni who took home awards at the 2024 HollyShorts Film Festival!
–Best Cinematography: CORPSE FISHING, Pip White (AFI Class of 2020)
–Kodak Best Shot on Film, Honorable Mention: MORT Giselle Bonilla (AFI Class of 2023)
–Best Student Film: FISHMONGER, Neil Ferron (AFI Class of 2020)
–Best TV Screenplay: SOMETHING WEIRD ABOUT WINSTON, Wilandrea Blair (AFI Class of 2020)
NEW HIRES AND PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT/PRODUCTION
Actors Zendaya and Robert Pattinson are in talks to star in the new A24 film THE DRAMA, directed by Kristoffer Borgli and produced by Ari Aster (AFI Class of 2010) under his Square Peg banner.
TÁR actress Sophie Kauer, Honor Swinton Byrne and Greta Bellamacina are attached to star in ALL FIVE EYES, directed and co-written by AFI Conservatory Alum Jaclyn Bethany (AFI Class of 2018).
AFI Alum Uta Briesewitz (AFI Class of 1994) is set to direct the mystery thriller AMERICAN SWEATSHOP, with actors Lili Reinhart and Daniela Melchior attached to star.
A24 is in talks to acquire TONY, the new Anthony Bourdain biopic, written by Lou Howe (AFI Class of 2010) and Todd Bartels and set to star THE HOLDOVERS’ Dominic Sessa.
Writer/director Daniel Sawka (AFI Class of 2015) will be pitching his film TWO PEOPLE WHO FALL IN LOVE, a romantic dramedy about a young couple on the autism spectrum, at the Nordic Co-Production Showcase.
New Line is co-financing and releasing the horror movie THEY WILL KILL YOU, starring Zazie Beetz and produced by John Schoenfelder (AFI Class of 2000).
Director David Waldman (AFI Class of 2001) and cinematographer Jeff Powers (AFI Class of 2009) collaborated on a commercial for the LA burger joint For the Win.
FILM INITIATIVES
The Television Academy has selected Geneviève Agar (AFI Class of 2024) for the prestigious Bob Bennett Future Leaders program. She is one of just 10 students selected among the Foundation’s 40 interns for the initiative which will pair her with an ASC cinematographer to shadow for 8 weeks during prep, production and post on a television show.
NEW TRAILERS
FX revealed the first trailer for AMERICAN SPORTS STORY; AARON HERNANDEZ, starring Josh Rivera and produced by AFI Alum Carl Franklin (AFI Class of 1986).
Hulu released a new trailer for season 5 of SOLAR OPPOSITES, which Vidhya Iyer (AFI Class of 2017) was staffed on as a writer. The new season premiered August 12.
Netflix released a new trailer for HIS THREE DAUGHTERS, written/directed by Azazel Jacobs (AFI Class of 2001) and starring Elizabeth Olsen, Natasha Lyonne, Carrie Coon. The film is set to premiere in select theaters on September 6 before hitting the streaming channel on September 24.
San Diego Comic-Con screened the first trailer for the six-part thriller series LIKE A DRAGON: YAKUZA, featuring a screenplay by Yugo Nakamura (AFI Class of 2020) and Sean Crouch.
Netflix released the first trailer for THE PIANO LESSON, directed and co-written by AFI Alum Malcolm Washington’s (AFI Class of 2016) who is making his feature directorial debut. The film, which is adapted from the Pulitzer Prize–winning August Wilson play, is set to premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on September 10.
NEW RELEASES
Variety reviewed Justin Simien’s new MGM+ docuseries HOLLYWOOD BLACK which reexamines Hollywood cinematic history through a Black lens, highlighting the work of Black filmmakers including AFI Conservatory Alum Julie Dash (AFI Class of 1974).
AFRICAN GIANTS, written, directed and produced by AFI Conservatory Alum Omar Kamara (AFI Class of 2020), premiered on Wednesday, August 21 at the Laemmle Theaters in Los Angeles for a one-week engagement. The feature, which won an Audience Award at Slamdance earlier in the year, also features the work of cinematographer Jonas Fischer (AFI Class of 2020), editor Lily Judge (AFI Class of 2020), producer Jordan Tyner (AFI Class of 2020) and executive producer Yancey Wang (AFI Class of 2020).
SEW TORN, written, directed and produced by Freddy MacDonald (AFI Class of 2021), was reviewed by Variety with the outlet praising the film “for its technical agility and poppy storytelling verve.”
INVENTION, directed, co-written and produced by AFI Alum Courtney Stephens (AFI Class of 2009), was reviewed by Indiewire with their film critic calling it, “an open-hearted, playful and perceptive film that does achieve its own sort of magic in seeing just how far you can test the boundaries between metafiction and explicit documentary.”
DISTRIBUTION
Roadside Attractions has acquired the rights to the SXSW Grand Jury Award and Audience Award winning feature BOB TREVINO LIKES IT, which was produced by AFI Faculty Sean Mullin and AFI Alum Edgar Rosa (AFI Class of 2014). The film was edited by Anisha Acharya (AFI Class of 2014) with Rich Song (AFI Class of 2012) serving as a Post-Production Supervisor on the project.
Kino Lorber has acquired the North American distribution rights to OH, CANADA, written and directed by AFI Conservatory Alum Paul Schrader (AFI Class of 1969).
FILM FESTIVALS
In honor of its 30th anniversary, writer, director, producer and AFI Alum P. David Ebersole (AFI Class of 1991) has restored his thesis film DEATH IN VENICE, CA, which will stream as part of the Honolulu Rainbow Film Festival, which runs September 20-27.
The AFI Thesis Film LOLA, directed and co-written by Grace Hanna (AFI Class of 2023), won Best Directorial Debut at Indy Shorts Film Festival.
IN OTHER NEWS
Emmy®-nominated cinematographer Todd Banhazl (AFI Class of 2009) spoke to Variety about working on WINNING TIME: THE RISE OF THE LAKERS DYNASTY and using “the rollerblade camera” to get close to the actors on the basketball court and capture the action-packed sequences.
THE SINGING REVOLUTION, a new musical written by AFI Alum James “Séamus” Bearhart (AFI Class of 2022) and Tony Spinosa, will debut at the Savoy Theatre in the West End for a one-off staged workshop performance.
Empire Magazine revealed the first-ever stop-motion animation digital cover for WILDWOOD, which was shot by acclaimed cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (AFI Class of 1969).
Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY 360 conversation and screening series is set to showcase films directed by AFI Conservatory Alumni Bill Duke (AFI Class of 1978) and Ed Zwick (AFI Class of 1975).
As part of Indiewire’s 2000s Week, writer, director, producer and AFI Alum Todd Field (AFI Class of 1992) spoke about his experience making the acclaimed indies IN THE BEDROOM and LITTLE CHILDREN and how the film industry has evolved since they were released.
The Burbank Public Library and the Writers Guild Foundation (WGF) presented a panel, including AFI Alum Matt Legarreta (AFI Class of 2021), about how to “use the WGF’s unique resources to further your screenwriting goals.”
AFI Alum and cinematographer Jason Oldak (AFI Class of 2005) spoke to Deadline about working on the Emmy®-nominated series LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY – executive produced by Susannah Grant (AFI Class of 1991).
Editor and AFI Alum Yoni Reiss (AFI Class of 2009), who is nominated for an Emmy Award® for FALLOUT, spoke to Variety about his work on the acclaimed series including how the show’s production design informed his editing.
While serving as the president of the features jury at the Sarajevo Film Festival, AFI Alum Paul Schrader (AFI Class of 1969) announced that he has two new films in the works – NON COMPOS MENTIS and THE BASICS OF PHILOSOPHY.
Emmy®-nominated editor Varun Viswanath (AFI Class of 2012) spoke with Variety, giving them insight into his process of cutting the RESERVATION DOGS series finale, “Dig,” alongside fellow editor Patrick Tuck.