
American Film Institute
At the world-renowned AFI Conservatory, a dedicated group of working professionals from the film and television communities serve as mentors in a hands-on, production-based environment nurturing the talents of tomorrow’s storytellers.
Established in 1967, the two-year Master of Fine Arts program provides training in six filmmaking disciplines: Cinematography, Directing, Editing, Producing, Production Design and Screenwriting.
With an emphasis on narrative visual storytelling, personal expression, and professional production standards, Fellows collaborate to make more films than any other graduate level program. Admission to AFI Conservatory is highly selective, with a maximum of only 140 graduates per year.



DIRECTING
DARREN ARONOFSKY – Mother!, Black Swan, The Wrestler, Requiem for a Dream
ANDREA ARNOLD – American Honey, Wuthering Heights, Fish Tank (also as writer)
ARI ASTER - Hereditary, The Strange Thing About the Johnsons
MARTIN BREST – Meet Joe Black, Midnight Run, Scent of a Woman, Beverly Hills Cop
ZAL BATMANGLIJ – The East, Wayward Pines, The OA
JOHN DAHL – Ray Donovan, Rounders
KIRBY DICK – The Invisible War, This Film is Not Yet Rated, Outrage, Twist of Faith
DRAKE DOREMUS – Equals, Like Crazy, The Nowness, Breathe In
DOUG ELLIN – Entourage
SAM ESMAIL – Mr. Robot, Comet
TODD FIELD – In the Bedroom, Little Children
RODRIGO GARCIA – Last Days in the Desert, Mother and Child, Nine Lives
AMY HECKERLING – Clueless, Look Who's Talking, Loser, Fast Times at Ridgemont High
PATTY JENKINS – Wonder Woman, Monster, The Killing
DUKE JOHNSON – Anomalisa
TERRENCE MALICK – The Tree of Life, The Thin Red Line, Days of Heaven, Badlands
JOHN MCTIERNAN – Die Hard, The Thomas Crown Affair, Predator
JONATHAN LEVINE – 50/50, The Wackness, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane
DAVID LYNCH – Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, Eraserhead, Twin Peaks
PAUL SCHRADER – Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, Taxi Driver (all as writer)
MARK WATERS – Popper’s Penguins, Mean Girls
ED ZWICK – Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai, Pawn Sacrifice, Love & Other Drugs
CINEMATOGRAPHY
DAVID A. ARMSTRONG – Skinwalkers, Next Day Air, Saw, Saw II, Saw III, Saw IV
UTA BRIESEWITZ – Freaks of Nature, The Wire, Hung, The TV Set, Walk Hard
PETER DEMING – Mulholland Dr, Cabin in the Woods, Austin Powers, I Heart Huckabees
CALEB DESCHANEL – The Passion of the Christ, The Patriot, The Right Stuff
AUTUMN DURALD – Palo Alto, One & Two
FREDERICK ELMES – Blue Velvet, Wild At Heart, Kinsey, Broken Flowers
ROBERT ELSWIT – There Will Be Blood, Boogie Nights, Nightcrawler, Magnolia
JANUSZ KAMIŃSKI – Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
PETRA KORNER – Umrika, The Informers, My Soul to Take, The Wackness
MATTHEW LIBATIQUE – Mother!, Black Swan, Straight Outta Compton, Iron Man
SHARONE MEIR - The Last House on the Left, Mean Creek, Coach Carter, Whiplash
AMIR MOKRI – Man of Steel, Bad Boys II, Lord of War, Transformers: Dark of the Moon
RACHEL MORRISON – Black Panther, Mudbound, Fruitvale Station, Dope,
WALLY PFISTER – Inception, The Dark Knight, Moneyball, Memento
ROBERT RICHARDSON – Inglourious Basterds, The Aviator, Casio, JFK, Kill Bill
TOM RICHMOND – Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, Slums of Beverly Hills, Little Odessa
JONATHAN SELA – Law Abiding Citizen, John Wick, Atomic Blonde, Deadpool 2
TIM SUHRSTEDT - Idiocracy, Extract, The Wedding Singer, Office Space
MASANOBU TAKANAYAGI – Black Mass, Spotlight, Silver Linings Playbook, Hostiles
AMY VINCENT - Hustle & Flow, Black Snake Moan, Jawbreaker
PRODUCING
DAVID GROSS – Room, Goon: The Last of the Enforcers, What If, Goon, Kin
PAUL HELLERMAN – Jackie Brown, The Mexican, Four Rooms, From Dusk Till Dawn (as co-producer)
ERIC WATSON – Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, Pi, Aftermath, Virginia
ANNE GAREFINO – South Park: Bigger Longer & Uncut, Team America: World Police
STEVE GOLIN – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Revenant, Spotlight, The Game
SCREENWRITING
DAVID ARATA – Children of Men, Spy Game
BRAD FALCHUK – American Horror Story, Glee, Nip/Tuck, Pose, Scream Queens
SCOTT FRANK – Minority Report, Out of Sight, The Lookout, Logan
JOHN SHIBAN – Breaking Bad, The X-Files, Rest Stop
EDITING
VICTOR DU BOIS – The Last Samurai, Grey’s Anatomy, I'm Dying Up Here, Fear the Walking Dead
AFFONSO GONÇALVES – Beasts of the Southern Wild, True Detective, Winter’s Bone, Carol
HOWARD E. SMITH – The Abyss, Glengarry Glen Ross, Near Dark, Point Break, Strange Days
PRODUCTION DESIGN
ANDREW MAX CAHN – Up in the Air, The Hangover, This Is 40, The Fate of the Furious (all as Art Director)
JOSEPH T. GARRITY - My Girl, Cake, Sunshine Cleaning, Best In Show, Waiting for Guffman
THERESA GULESERIAN – Togetherness, The Overnight, The One I Love, Blockers, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising
SHARON SEYMOUR – The Town, The Ides of March, Argo, Gone Baby Gone, Friday Night Lights, Bad Santa