The American Film Institute (AFI) in Los Angeles is a nonprofit organization with a mandate to champion the moving image as an art form. Established in 1967, AFI launched the first comprehensive history of American film and sparked the movement for film preservation in the United States.
Now its AFI Conservatory’s Department of Innovative Programs has launched a call for applicants to the DWW+ program -- a year-long Directing Workshop for Women. Former distinguished Alumnae include a who's who of phenomenal women like Maya Angelou, Anne Bancroft, Neema Barnette, Pippa Bianco, Tessa Blake, Tricia Brock, Ellen Burstyn, Rebecca Cammisa, Dyan Cannon, Jan Eliasberg, Naomi Foner, Jennifer Getzinger, Lyn Goldfarb, Randa Haines, Victoria Hochberg, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Matia Karrell, Maggie Kiley, Lynne Littman, Nancy Malone, Sarah Gertrude Shapiro, Becky Smith, Cicely Tyson and Joanne Woodward.
The DWW+ program, a year-long directing workshop that educates traditionally underrepresented narrative filmmakers through the production cycle of a short film, providing hands-on instruction led by industry experts, promises that participants leave the program with the knowledge and tools necessary to best leverage their creative talents and achieve their career goals as directors. The application period opened on August 12, and will close Sunday, September 25, 2022. The application and eligibility requirements can be found on afi.com/dww.
“DWW+ powerfully illustrates AFI’s commitment to providing opportunities for a diverse range of artists and those who have been historically underrepresented to pursue a professional career in directing film and television,” said Susan Ruskin, Dean of the AFI Conservatory and EVP of the American Film Institute. “We look forward to hosting an inclusive creative community and to championing a new cohort of directors dedicated to their progress as leaders in their craft.”
The AFI DWW+ was launched in 1974 as the Directing Workshop for Women, one of the first gender impact programs in the cinematic arts, as well as one of the longest-running and preeminent film and television workshops nationwide. Since the program’s inception, DWW+ has trained over 350 filmmakers who give voice to historically underrepresented perspectives.
More recently, DWW+ participants have included Oscar winner Siân Heder (AFI DWW Class of 2005), who wrote and directed the Academy Award-winning film CODA; DGA President Lesli Linka Glatter (AFI DWW Class of 1982), whose critically acclaimed work as a producer and director on Homeland earned her Emmy®, PGA and DGA Award nominations; Dime Davis (AFI DWW Class of 2015), who received a 2020 Emmy® nomination for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series for A Black Lady Sketch Show; and Hanelle Culpepper (AFI DWW Class of 2002), who directed the record-breaking pilot of Star Trek: Picard, making her the first woman director and the first Black director to launch a new Star Trek series in the franchise's history.
The AFI DWW+ program receives generous support from AT&T, Paramount Pictures, The Walt Disney Studios, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Will & Jada Smith Family Foundation, Universal Pictures and Lifetime. Additional support comes from the Lewis Greenwood Foundation, Jean Picker Firstenberg Endowment, The Nancy Malone Endowment provided by The Bob and Dolores Hope Charitable Foundation, and other individual supporters committed to providing opportunities for historically underrepresented voices in the media arts.
DWW+ is part of the AFI Conservatory’s Department of Innovative Programs, which also includes the Cinematography Intensive for Women and the Young Women in Film program. Through a range of learning opportunities, Innovative Programs serves a diverse community of aspiring visual storytellers to cultivate cutting-edge technological, digital, and media-making skills, bridge access to professional networks and place participants on an upward career trajectory. Read more about Innovative Programs on conservatory.afi.com/innovativeprograms/.
Top image by AFI, used with permission.
