AFI Life Achievement Award: Francis Ford Coppola — A Retrospective
The 21st edition of the New African Film Festival (NAFF) kicks off in one week on Friday, March 14! Presented by AFI and Africa World Now Project, the festival brings the vibrancy of African filmmaking from all corners of the continent and across the diaspora to the Washington, DC, area. Featuring 29 films from 19 countries, this year’s festival opens with NO CHAINS NO MASTERS, an epic historical drama that follows an enslaved father and daughter as they race to…
The 37th AFI European Union Film Showcase is just one week away, and it is bringing 54 films from all 27 EU member states — including 12 Best International Feature Film Oscar® submissions and six U.S. premieres — to the Washington, DC region. With such a wide selection of films, it can be hard to know where to begin. That is why our programming team has handpicked some options to guide you through the diverse lineup of movies, which includes…
AFI Silver is lucky enough to call film historian David Pierce co-curator of our inaugural Classic Film Weekend, and we spoke to him about the magic of pre-Code cinema on the occasion of the series' June 13 opening. To us, there may be no better way to spend a weekend than engulfed in movies from that brief yet monumental period, from the late 1920s through 1934, when filmmakers weren't tightly bound by studio-imposed restrictions. The output from that period is…
The 2024 edition of Spanish Cinema Now kicks off today with 10 films that reflect the breadth of styles and talents at work in Spain today!
We're just a week away from the 2024 edition of Spanish Cinema Now and AFI Silver Associate Film Programmer Josh Gardner, who has been involved with AFI since interning for Silverdocs in 2005, guides us through the history of this annual event and shares his favorite picks from this year's lineup.
It's May Day and that means the 2024 DC Labor FilmFest is now in full swing!
Our Columbia Pictures Centennial Retrospective continues this weekend with screenings of Otto Preminger's ANATOMY OF A MURDER on Sunday, April 28 and Wednesday, May 1. Washington City Paper writer Noah Gittell examines how the film pushed the boundaries of Hollywood's production code and set the template for courtroom dramas for decades to come.
May Day is just around the corner and that means another edition of the DC Labor FilmFest is nigh! Co-presented by the Labor Heritage Foundation and the AFI Silver, this annual series, now in its 24th year, features a wide-ranging selection of "laborific" films about work, workers and the wider issues affecting workers' lives.
AFI Silver has proudly presented films in glorious 70mm since opening our doors in 2003. This list tracks all 70mm…
July 11–Sept. 9, 2025
Over the course of a career spanning seven decades — with his latest film, MEGALOPOLIS, released…
Buy your tickets at AFI.com/Silver.
May 30–June 3, 2025
The AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center and the Cultural Office of the Embassy of Spain…
December 4–22, 2024
Now in its 37th year, the AFI European Union Film Showcase continues its tradition of bringing the…
July 6–17, 2025
us for a four-film series celebrating the 40th anniversary of DC punk's Revolution Summer and the…
May 30, 31, June 3
2025 Spanish Cinema Now
[EL LLANTO]
Like any other college student, Andrea (Ester Expósito, ELITE) is inseparable from her cell phone. But while video chatting with her long-distance boyfriend, she discovers a terrifying presence in her apartment, one that is only visible through the camera’s lens. A frantic search through her camera roll reveals this haunting has been going on for a long time. Consumed by fear and a determination to find the origins of…
May 30, June 2
2025 Spanish Cinema Now
Opening Night | Q&A with filmmaker Carlos Marques-Marcet and post-screening reception hosted by SPAIN arts & culture
[POLVO SERÁN]
A daring, romantic and frank musical about life and death, THEY WILL BE DUST finds septuagenarian Claudia (Ángela Molina, THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE, BROKEN EMBRACES) facing a terminal illness diagnosis head-on. Refusing to relinquish control over her own life, she makes the unimaginable choice to end her time on this planet. Her devoted…
May 30, 31, June 2, 4, 5
WorldPride on Screen
In the unfathomable depths of a coal mine, laborers Nam (Pham Thanh Hai) and Viet (Dao Duy Bao Dinh) have found a boundless love. Wrapped in darkness, their bodies intertwine, soaking up their last moments together before they are drawn apart. Dreaming of a better life outside the mine, Nam readies himself for a dangerous journey: to be smuggled in a shipping container to Europe. But before he leaves, he…
May 30, 31, June 3–5
WorldPride on Screen
[FRESA Y CHOCOLATE]
Set in contemporary Havana, this tale follows the evolving relationship between David (Vladimir Cruz), an avid but naïve Castro er, and Diego (Jorge Perugorría), an outgoing, anti-establishment gay artist who is immediately interested in David upon meeting him at a café. David is encouraged to spy on Diego while Diego teaches him about art and literature and the repression of gay people by the government David s. As their…
12:50 - 14:05
Have been trying for a full day to find words that do justice to this film — this gently crescendoing, (literal) jaw dropper of a movie that feels in conversation with so many different images & stories that precede it.
The NY Times’ review says that Ross cradles his characters & I think that’s a perfect way of putting it. Amidst the almost unbearable pain & injustice & dehumanization of this story, the form used to tell it is gentle & wondrous & attentive & humanizing & new. Smarter people…
Buy your tickets at AFI.com/Silver.