For the fourth consecutive year, the Academy of Motion Pictutre Arts and Sciences is underwriting the Telluride Film Festival's Guest Director program, the Academy announced on Wednesday.
AMPAS has awarded a $50,000 grant to the festival for the program, which this year will bring Brazilian composer Caetano Veloso to Telluride to curate a selection of films. In the three previous years that the Academy funded the Guest Director program, the festival brought in writer Michael Ondjaate, director Alexander Payne and philosopher Slavoj Zizek.
The grant was made through the Academy Foundation, a cultural and education wing of the Academy. The Foundation oversees the AMPAS screening program and gives out more than $1 million in grants to film scholars, cultural organizations and film festivals annually.
"The Guest Director Program brings added depth and a rare variety of films to the Festival that we consider an integral part of our program's success," said Telluride Film Festival Co-Director Julie Huntsinger in the AMPAS press release announcing the grant. "The generous support from The Academy and our ongoing partnership allows us to continue working with brilliant artists, whose film selections are sourced from film vaults across the globe, and put together a program our audience expects and deserves."
The Academy's COO, Ric Robertson, will travel to Telluride for the festival.
