| By RaeAnne Marsh (October/November 2006) At AFI's anniversary next year, it will be 42 years since President Lyndon Johnson stood in the White House Rose Garden and declared the American Film Institute (AFI) would be formed - and why it was important: "Art is a nation's most precious heritage. For it is in our works of art that we reveal to ourselves, and to others, the inner vision which guides us as a nation. And where there is no vision, the people perish." Two years later, in 1967, AFI was created by the same legislation that created the National Endowment for the Arts, focused on preserving America's film heritage and training the next generation of filmmakers. Gregory Peck was its first Chairman; George Stevens Jr., its first director. The AFI Collection, which pioneered film preservation in its early years and continues to acquire and preserve films for the Library of Congress archive, and what is known today as the AFI Conservatory, which offers an accredited MFA program based on collaboration with acknowledged master filmmakers, were two of the initial programs of the fledgling institute. The stature they've established in the world of the arts is illustrious. More than 30,000 is the number of titles amassed so far by the Collection, while the Conservatory boasts both numbers and names. In Its training of our next generation of filmmakers, the Conservatory takes advantage of the participation of acclaimed professionals such as director Robert Mandel (F/X, The Substitute), producer Roger Birnbaum (The Sixth Sense, Seabiscuit), writer/director Frank Pierson (Cool Hand Luke, Dog Day Afternoon) and Tom Hanks (The Da Vinci Code, Saving Private Ryan). Those who have completed the Conservatory's two-year program for a degree in Cinematography, Directing, Editing, Producing, Production Design or Screenwriting have, collectively, amassed an astounding number of peer awards. AFI's mission statement claims, "AFI is a national institute providing leadership in screen education and the recognition and celebration of excellence in the art of film, television and digital media." It has grown to encompass numerous programs, which fall into the mission statement's two general categories. While the Collection quietly continues to fulfill its role in recognizing and celebrating excellence, other AFI programs do so in greater spotlight. Aside from the AFI Fest, AFI also presents SilverDocs, which "celebrates the power of non-fiction storytelling," held at the landmark AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Maryland, and the recently announced AFI Fest Southwest Dallas, which will be held for the first time next spring. Year-round program - a richly eclectic playbill of independent, first-run, international and repertory cinema -.is presented at AFI's showcase Maryland facility and, on a more limited basis, at the ArcLight Cinemas and the Skirball Cultural Center in L.A. AFI Awards fills a gap in the multitude of America's film awards; it is the only national award that recognizes the collaborative nature of the medium. This award, an ensemble recognition to the team before and behind the camera, is unique in another aspect as well: Its honorees each year are chosen by a 13-person jury (one jury for film, one for TV) that debates to a consensus behind closed doors. Among AFI's screen education programs, the AFI Conservatory is only one of five, almost all of them year-round endeavors. Another, the K-12 Screen Education Center, uses the tools of filmmaking to enhance education in the core academic subjects and trains teachers to use those tools to engage their students. R&D is the focus of AFI Digital Content Lab in its work exploring new digital applications in all digital media, including film, TV and games. And the AFI Catalog continues its ambitious efforts to offer a complete online archive of all American feature films released since 1893, recently announcing it has caught up to the '60s and has begun on the '70s. An ongoing research project, its comprehensive coverage of each film produced in America or financed by American production companies includes subject indexes, citations for reviews, news items and underlying literary sources as well as extensive cast and crew lists, plot summaries and historical notes. Outgoing AFI director and CEO Jean Picker Firstenberg says, "The AFI Catalog is truly one of the greatest film resources available on the Internet." |
