The formalities started off with an opening address given by the Jean Picker Furstenberg, President and CEO. The concept of the AFI came into being 42 years ago in the Rose Garden when Lyndon B Johnson propsed legislation for the formulation of a series of artistic institutions including a National Theatre, Ballet, Opera and the AFI.
The AFI Mission Statement includes:
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.
Wikipedia states:
The American Film Institute Of America (AFI) is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act.
George Stevens, Jr., was the first CEO and director. In 1980 Jean Picker Firstenberg became Director and CEO.
In 1973, the AFI established a Life Achievement Award. Their own film festival, AFI Fest , was launched in 1987 and has been held every year. AFI Fest is the first film festival in the United States to carry FIAPF accreditation. Beginning in 2007, AFI opened up a satellite festival under the name AFI DALLAS.
In 1998, the 100th anniversary of American film, AFI began its 100 Years... series, celebrating and promoting interest in film history; they also preserve old films, which are subject to degradation of film stock.
The AFI re-opened the AFI Silver theatre in Silver Spring, Maryland, near Washington, D.C., in April 2003. The AFI Conservatory focuses on training through hands-on experience with established figures. AFI also produces film education and appreciation materials for middle and high school students. In spite of its name, AFI does not focus exclusively on film, but also on television and video.
On October 31st Jean will be retiring after 27 years and 10 months!
He successor Bob Gazzale followed her address. At the age of nine he watched James Cagney being awarded a lifetime achievement at that point he realised film was a truly special medium. He went on to study at the Unversity of Virginia where he set up the Virginian Film Festival. Jean Pickering subsequently offered him a job. Working in NY for 5 years he finally returned to LA to set up the AFI 100 list.
Today he dropped off his son at school, and in a sense it was not dissimilar to our situation starting out at the AFI. The only thing he could say to his son as he ran off with his Darth Vader rucksack bouncing away was 'have fun' and these are the same words he left us with.
Bob Mandel the followed on, extolling the size of the AFI conservatory to be small enough to be proprietal and praising it for the support it gave him through his career.
It sounds a long morning - but nothing could be further from the truth. All speakers were eloquent and inspiring. In a funny way I was reminded of the honour and fear I felt when I first started at Oxford. How physically dissimilar could a 40 year institution be compared to Christ Church which is in excess of 400 years old. But what they have in common in ageless - absolute pride and sense of of value.
Alex Israel a second year student had the final address. A confident and funny delivery. Starting off with a whole range of anacronyms which AFI has created and must come across as complete gobbledy gook to an outside observer. But this humour led into sage advice:
- don't underestimate your peers
- don't burn bridges or make enemies
- don't form liques and alienate people
People will remember.What goes around comes around. And last not least people will amaze you!
Remember we are peers not competitors.
The session ended with two phonomenally inspiring films.
The first showed an array of the recipients of the AFI lifetime achievement award - Meryl Streep, Jack Nicholson, Steven Spielberg, Jimmy Cagney, Jimmy Stewart, Al Pacino, Sean Connery, Billy Wilder - their pride and delight, their passion and commitment - it brought a tear to your eyes as you realised how much film means to people.
The second film was a summary of some of the key graduates from the AFI - Terrence Malick, Caleb Deschanel, Janusz Kaminski, Edward Zwick, Patty Jenkins, Darren Aronofsky, David Lynch - no pressure!
The event was followed by lunch with the faculty.
After lunch was the first of the Harold Lloyd Master Seminars - a screening of 'Resurrecting the Champ' followed by a Q&A with Rod Lurie. It wasn't a film which caught my eye at the cinema - so was pleasantly surprised. Some great lines and good performances. Rod was a great speaker and in deference to the confidentiality of the seminar series I won't retell any of the stories and anecdotes he recounted. Suffice to safe his honesty and trust in us was amazing.
Rod Lurie - previously trained at West Point going on to serve as a combat arms officer. Then went on to be an entertainment journalist. He wrote and directed the academy award and golden globe award nominated political thriller 'The Contender' starring Joan Allen, Jeff Bridges, Gary Oldman and Christian Slater. He then wrote and directed the 'Commander in Chief' amongst other projects.
Script is looking great. We worked through the whole piece, prunning. We are getting there.
What a fantastic day!
1 comment:
Good to hear you're finally getting an education. Less honour and more fear when we started at Rendcomb I suspect.
Post a Comment