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American Film Institute

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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