Latest in AFI Conservatory

The AFI Conservatory, one of the crown jewels of the American Film Institute, celebrated its 50th anniversary in style Thursday night at the place where it all started, the fabled Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills. One of the first “colleges” for filmmakers (there were only four at the time), it opened at Greystone…

Producer and educator Susan Ruskin has been named the dean of AFI Conservatory, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. She will lead its graduate film-training program and also is set as EVP of the American Film Institute, reporting to AFI President and CEO Bob Gazzale. “Susan is a bold and innovative…

Richard Gladstein, who has served as dean of the American Film Institute’s AFI Conservatory for the past 18 months, is exiting his post, the organization said Monday. The graduate film school’s Michael Chung, Vice Dean of Administration, and Tom Engfer, Vice Dean of Academic Affairs, have been appointed Co-Interim…

EXCLUSIVE: The American Film Institute has appointed prolific film producer Richard Gladstein as Dean of the AFI Conservatory. He will take over for Jan Schuette, who will depart June 30. Gladstein’s hands on knowledge of film production should nicely fit AFI’s hands on approach to graduate film education, where…

Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi’s The Salesman is up for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar, but he has vowed to boycott the ceremony over President Trump’s travel ban. He has served as Artist-in-Residence at the AFI Conservatory for the past two years, and today the AFI came out with a statement defending him as…

The American Film Institute said today that Jan Schuette will depart as dean of the AFI Conservatory at the end of the academic year after three years in the job. AFI said Schuette he intends to continue his work in academia and resume his professional work as a filmmaker and producer. The move comes after a majority…

A wave of faculty firings and resignations has thrown the AFI Conservatory into turmoil as the famed Los Angeles-based film school begins a new term today. A longtime senior lecturer who resigned last week compared the administration of Jan Schuette, the film school's dean since June 2014, to a "dictatorial South…