AFI Fest 2023 Announces Grand Jury Award Winners
Los Angeles, CA — October 30, 2023 — The American Film Institute (AFI) announced today the AFI FEST 2023 Grand Jury Award winners and Special Mentions. The Grand Jury Award winners for Live Action Short, Documentary Short and Animated Short will be eligible for the 2023 Best Live Action Short, Best Documentary Short and Best Animated Short Academy Awards®. The jury was comprised of BAFTA-winning and Emmy®-nominated director and writer Sindha Agha, film critic Ryan Swen and writer, producer and film programmer Imani Davis.
“By smashing attendance records this year, AFI FEST proves the power of cinema to bring us together in difficult times,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI President and CEO. “For 37 years, AFI has been proud to bring the very best of world cinema to the heart of Hollywood, and we look forward to welcoming even more people to the movies next year.”
Closing Dynasty directed by Lloyd Lee Choi took home the Grand Jury Prize for Live Action Short. NǍI NAI & WÀI PÓ (Grandma & Grandma) directed by Sean Wang won the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary Short. Chutes directed by Kenzie Sutton won the Grand Jury Prize for Animated Short.
AFI FEST 2023 featured more than 140 titles for the public to enjoy across five days. The program included 3 Red Carpet Premieres, 11 Special Screenings, 15 Luminaries, 12 Discovery, 16 World Cinema, 14 Documentary, 42 Short Film Competition, 30 films in the AFI Conservatory Showcase presented by AMC Networks, and 5 Guest Artistic Director selections. Of the official selections, 43% were directed by women, 36% were directed by BIPOC filmmakers and 17% were directed by LGBTQIA+ filmmakers. There were 4 World Premieres, 3 North American Premieres and 4 U.S. Premieres, and the program represented 49 countries and included 20 Best International Feature Oscar® submissions. The festival opened with the world premiere of Leave the World Behind, written and directed by Sam Esmail (AFI Class of 2004) and starring Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke and Mahershala Ali, opened AFI FEST, and Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, a towering and fearless love story chronicling the lifelong relationship between Leonard Bernstein and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein closed the festival. AFI FEST Guest Artistic Director Greta Gerwig curated five films for this year’s festival and introduce select films including A Matter of Life and Death, as well as Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure which screened in the TCL Chinese Theatre.
The Hollywood Reporter hosted a panel celebrating the greatest film books of all time moderated by Scott Feinberg, Executive Editor of Awards, with panelists/authors including A. Scott Berg, Cameron Crowe, Nancy Griffin, Aljean Harmetz, Leonard Maltin, Kim Masters, Dennis McDougal, James Andrew Miller, Eddie Muller, John Pierson, George Stevens Jr., Michael Tolkin, Christine Vachon, Mark A. Vierira and Sam Wasson.
AFI Conservatory Alumni with films at AFI FEST included Jonathan Alberts, Leo Behrens, Ilayda Cetinkaya, Alejandra Armijo Cruz, Christos Dervenis, Sabrina Doyle, Jerome Duboz, Sam Esmail, Clarisa Garcia-Fresco, P.J. Germain, Dawn Green, Liz Hannah, Rhianon Jones, Justin Kane, Martin Kukula, Matthew Libatique, Stephen Paar, Jih-E Peng, Elika Rezaee, Thorsten Schumacher, Zofia Sablinska, Maximilian Schmige, Shuchi Talati, Stefan Weinberger and Mojo Wen.
Returning filmmakers to AFI FEST included Nikolaj Arcel, Joanna Arnow, Lila Avilés, Minhal Baig, Kaother Ben Hania, Jessica Bishopp, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Lydia Cornett, Nienke Deutz, Bas Devos, Amat Escalante, Michel Franco, Matteo Garrone, Ja’Tovia M. Gary, Andrew Haigh, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Sterling Hampton IV, Agnieszka Holland, Tatiana Huezo, Corina Schwingruber Ilić, Radu Jude, Aki Kaurismäki, Javier Mariscal, Rosine Mbakam, Steve McQueen, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Christos Nikou, Alice Rohrwacher, Hong Sang-soo, Angela Schanelec, Neo Sora, Fernando Trueba, Sean Wang, Wim Wenders, Roger Ross Williams and Frederick Wiseman.
To learn more about AFI FEST, visit FEST.AFI.com.
Originally published at http://behindtherabbitproductions.wordpress.com on October 31, 2023.
