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. The Conservatory is consistently recognized as one of the world’s top film schools.
With an emphasis on narrative visual storytelling and personal expression, each class breaks into teams that mirror a real production environment. Those teams collaborate on and produce more films than any other graduate level film program.
Established in 1969, the two-year Master of Fine Arts program provides training in six filmmaking disciplines: Cinematography, Directing, Editing, Producing, Production Design and Screenwriting. Admission to AFI Conservatory is highly selective, with a maximum of only 140 graduates per year.
NOTABLE ALUMNI
DIRECTING
Darren Aranofsky - Black Swan, The Wrestler, Requiem for a Dream
Andrea Arnold – Wuthering Heights, Fish Tank (Both as Writer)
Gill Dennis – Walk the Line, Riders of the Purple Sage (Both as Writer)
Amy Heckerling – Clueless, Fast Times at Ridgemont High
Jonathan Levine – 50/50, The Wackness
David Lynch – Blue Velvet, Eraserhead, Mulholland Drive
Terrence Malick – The Tree of Life, The Thin Red Line, Badlands
John McTiernan – Die Hard, The Thomas Crown Affair
Paul Schrader – Raging Bull and Taxi Driver (Both as Writer)
Ed Zwick – Blood Diamond (Writer), Glory
PRODUCING
Mikkel Bodesen - Burn Notice, The Killing (Both as Executive Producer)
Julie Dash - The Rosa Parks Story, Daughters of the Dust
David Gross - Room, Goon
Paul Hellerman - Jackie Brown, The Mexican (Both as Co-Producer)
Allison Jones - Veep, Bridesmaids
Stefan Simchowitz - Requiem for a Dream, Wild (Both as Executive Producer)
Heidi Levitt - The Artist, Natural Born Killers
Steve Golin - Spotlight, The Revenant
Pieter Jan Brugge - The Insider, Heat (Both as Executive Producer)
SCREENWRITING
David Arata – Children of Men, Spy Game
Brad Falchuk – American Horror Story, Glee, Nip/Tuck
Scott Frank – Minority Report, Out of Sight
John Shiban – Breaking Bad, The X-Files
CINEMATOGRAPHY
Caleb Deschanel – The Natural, The Right Stuff, The Black Stallion
Robert Elswit – There Will Be Blood, Good Night And Good Luck
Janusz Kamiński – Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List
Rachel Morrison – Fruitvale Station, Cake Dope
Wally Pfister – Inception, The Dark Knight
Robert Richardson – Inglorious Basterds, The Aviator
EDITING
Victor DuBois – The Last Samurai, Grey's Anatomy
Affonso Gonçalves – Beasts of the Southern Wild, True Detective
Howard Smith – The Abyss, Glengarry Glenross
PRODUCTION DESIGN
Andrew Max Cahn – Up in The Air, The Hangover
Theresa Guleserian – Togethernes, The Overnight, The One I Love
Sharon Seymour – The Town, The Ides of March