In his speech at the 1967 launch of the American Film Institution in the White House Rose Garden, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared the primary goal of what was then a small government program: to bring together leading artists in the film industry, outstanding educators, and young men and women who wished to pursue this art form as their life's work.
This would be no easy task; at the time, film was regarded as either high art or disposable popular entertainment. But AFI was uniquely positioned to bridge that gap in the minds and imagination of Americans and champion the concept of film as a critical cultural record.
Told in a unique memoir style, AFI: 50 Years of the American Film Institute gives a candid look at how the organization brought its goal to life, despite facing major challenges along the way. From its early years operating out of the Greystone mansion under the leadership of George Stevens Jr., through its remarkable growth into a cultural institution under the leadership of Jean Picker Firstenberg in the 1980s and '90s at its Los Feliz location, to its continued excellence into the twenty-first century, this book chronicles the history of AFI through in-depth essays by those who were active in the trenches. These stories portray the constantly changing landscape of film culture that shaped AFI itself.
Now celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, AFI has flourished into a self-sustaining arts authority with international reach, whose supporters, board members, and trustees have included Steven Spielberg, Jane Fonda, Gregory Peck, Meryl Streep, Sidney Poitier, David Lynch, Francis Ford Coppola, and many more. With passionate determination, AFI overcame the hurdles of advancing technology, political shifts, and new audience dynamics to turn its aspirations into a sustainable organization, becoming one of America's few successful national arts entities and maturing into the respected educational and cultural institution that it is today.