American Film Institute

Actor-producer Michael Douglas has been chosen to receive the American Film Institute's prestigious Life Achievement Award, 18 years after the same honor was bestowed on his father, Kirk Douglas. Douglas, 64, who won an Oscar for "Wall Street" and also starred in "Fatal Attraction," "Romancing the Stone," "Basic Instinct," "The China Syndrome" and "Wonder Boys," will receive the award at a ceremony in L.A. on June 11. "Michael Douglas is the rightful heir to the throne of the royal family of American film," Howard Stringer, chair of the AFI board of trustees, said Monday in making the announcement.

His walk is slow, his speech is measured, but at 86, Sidney Poitier is still a commanding presence. The Academy Award-winning actor and a founding board member of the American Film Institute in 1967 was on hand for AFI Night at the Movies at the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood on Wednesday to introduce "In the Heat of the Night," the 1967 best picture winner in which he starred with Rod Steiger. Introducing films in other theaters for the AFI fund-raiser were Harrison Ford ("Blade Runner")

In a computer room crammed with students, freshman George-Michael Bluth is conferring with his dad, Michael, about his ambitious plans to create a social media website. The scene, featuring actors Michael Cera and Jason Bateman, was set at UC Irvine but played out on the campus of Occidental College, where the crew of the TV series “Arrested Development” spent two days last week filming around the campus. Occidental College is perhaps best known as the school once attended by President Obama.

When it comes to old films, Robert Osborne is hard to stump. But this time he had to consult his notes. "Hold on, it's so obscure, even I don't remember the name of it," said Osborne, who has served as the main on-air host of Turner Classic Movies for 19 years, in the process becoming one of America's most recognizable cinephiles. Osborne was boning up to introduce the little-known movie - a 1939 B picture from RKO called "Sued For Libel" - for an upcoming series the cable network has planned.

Filmmakers are natural raconteurs — they have to be — at least when talking about their films. There are the money men who must be convinced to invest, the studios they need to sign on for distribution, the actors they want to hire and the press and public they hope will see the finished film and like it. The American Film Institute captures all that and more in "Conversations at the American Film Institute with the Great Moviemakers: The...

Marlon Brando was a contender in the American Film Institute's list of best quotes from U.S. movies. But No. 1 was Rhett Butler's parting shot to Scarlett O'Hara: "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." Clark Gable's line to Vivien Leigh in 1939's "Gone With the Wind" led the AFI's list, announced in the organization's annual top-100 special that was to air on CBS Tuesday night. Brando had the No. 2 and No.

Today we send up a rocket for the independents among us, those Americans who do their own things as they swim upstream listening to the sounds of different drummers. The subtext is making it sometimes in an often brutal commercial world. Gregg Araki makes movies and is called by some the king of L.A. guerrilla filmmakers. He turns out feature-length films that cost under $5,000 for audiences that just might fill up a telephone booth.

It was launched in the Rose Garden by President Lyndon B. Johnson to advance and preserve the art of the moving image. For decades, the American Film Institute thrived doing just that. Now, like almost every other nonprofit organization knocked sideways by the recession, AFI finds itself having to script its own comeback story. Much of AFI's campus near Griffith Park has neither air conditioning nor heating. AFI's last televised Top 100 show lost more than $1 million, and the cable ratings for its Life Achievement Award are plunging.

Al Pacino was an actor in search of a character Thursday evening as he accepted the 35th annual American Film Institute Life Achievement Award. "I don't have a character to play," said the Oscar, Tony and Emmy winner, best known as Michael Corleone in "The Godfather" trilogy. "You're supposed to have something to say."

Sunday was a big day for "The Hurt Locker," the gripping wartime drama about a bomb diffusion unit in Iraq. Within hours, the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. and the American Film Institute both named the independent production the year's best drama. L.A. critics bestowed the film's director, Kathryn Bigelow, with a best director prize as well. FOR THE RECORD: Movie awards: An article in Monday's Calendar about the Los Angeles Film Critics Assn. and American Film Institute awards said "The Hurt Locker" is about a "bomb diffusion unit" in Iraq.

The American Film Institute has announced its lineup for the "AFI Night at the Movies" program on April 24 at the ArcLight Hollywood. Initiated in 2007, the evening allows fans a chance to see classic films presented by some of the stars who made them so memorable. "AFI Night at the Movies is a tradition grand in scale, but simple in message -- to bring artists and audiences together to celebrate their common bond at the movies," said Bob Gazzale, AFI president and chief executive, in a statement.  Confirmed to participate are: Kathy Bates presenting "Misery" Cher presenting "Moonstruck" Sally Field presenting "Norma Rae" Peter Fonda presenting "Easy Rider" Harrison Ford presenting "Blade Runner" Samuel L. Jackson presenting "Pulp Fiction" Shirley MacLaine presenting "Terms of Endearment" Demi Moore presenting "Ghost" Mike Myers persenting "Shrek" Kurt Russell presenting "The Thing" Kevin Spacey presenting "The Usual Suspects" Sidney Poitier presenting "In the Heat of the Night" Tickets to each screening are $30 and include a large popcorn and soda, as well as an ice cream bar. Tickets go on sale Thursday at 10 a.m. through the ArcLight Hollywood website ( arclightcinemas.com )

Fay Kanin, an Oscar-nominated screenwriter for the 1958 Clark Gable-Doris Day comedy "Teacher's Pet" and former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, died Wednesday. She was 95. In a writing career that spanned more than four decades, Kanin penned screenplays for movies such as the 1954 Elizabeth Taylor romantic drama "Rhapsody" and television specials such as "Tell Me Where It Hurts," for which she won two Emmy Awards in 1974. She won another Emmy in 1979 for producing "Friendly Fire," a critically acclaimed Carol Burnett TV movie based on the true story of an American soldier killed in the Vietnam War. Kanin served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1979 to 1983, and was its second female president after actress Bette Davis.

The 2013 AFI Fest will be held Nov. 7-14, the American Film Institute announced Tuesday as it put out a call for entries for its Breakthrough section. This year's festival takes place at the TCL Chinese Theatre, the Chinese 6 Theatres, the Egyptian Theatre at the American Cinematheque and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. AFI Fest is free to the public. PHOTOS: Hollywood backlot moments "AFI Fest is where the films of talented emerging filmmakers have the opportunity to screen alongside the current works of masters of the art form," Jacqueline Lyanga, director of AFI Fest, said in a statement Tuesday.

The people behind "Argo" hope to pick up some more hardware for their trophy cases at Sunday's Academy Awards, but in the meantime they've added another accolade to their accomplishments list. On Friday, Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge presented the film with the second annual Made in Hollywood award, which recognizes films that are shot primarily in Los Angeles. “'Argo' is a great film that was shot in a great location: the city of Los Angeles,” LaBonge said while presenting the honor to Warner Bros.

They all talk about the phone calls - Will Smith, Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks. What binds them is the relentless prodding they've all received from Hollywood's most bullish fundraiser, Jeffrey Katzenberg. At the fourth-annual Governors Awards, inside the Ray Dolby Ballroom on Saturday night at the Hollywood & Highland Center, Katzenberg was about to receive the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award for his many philanthropic efforts. American Film Institute founding director George Stevens Jr., stuntman and director Hal Needham and documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker also received honorary Oscars.

As in most countries, James Cameron's last two films "Avatar" and "Titanic" top the box-office list of all-time highest grossers in Spain. But that could change if native son Juan Antonio Bayona and his latest film about a family caught in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami "The Impossible" continues its unlikely drive in the European country. Since its Oct. 11 opening, the film has grossed 29 million euros, over $37 million, in only four weeks of release. "Titanic" grossed 41 million euros in the country when it opened some 15 years ago, and only 2009's "Avatar" has beaten it. Currently the film is the highest-grossing film of the year in the country and the highest-grossing Spanish film of all time.

"Mulholland Dr." and "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" won top picture honors Saturday as film awards were handed out on two coasts. In New York, "Mulholland Dr.," David Lynch's offbeat, enigmatic mystery, was named best picture of 2001 by the National Society of Film Critics. And in Beverly Hills, the American Film Institute gave top honors to Peter Jackson's fantasy epic "The Lord of the Rings" in a televised event--the AFI's first-ever awards ceremony. For "Mulholland Dr.

George Lucas, the filmmaker who gave the world light sabers, the Force, Wookiees and THX sound, was selected Friday by the American Film Institute's Board of Trustees to receive its 33rd annual Life Achievement Award, its highest honor for a career in film.

The frippery of period drama does not seem the natural province of English filmmaker Andrea Arnold. Her previous feature films, "Red Road" and "Fish Tank," as well as her Oscar-winning short film "Wasp," are all urban-set and ultra-contemporary, dealing with the problems of the here and now. Yet her historical adaptation of Emily Brontë's novel "Wuthering Heights," opening in Los Angeles on Friday, feels both exactly of a piece with Arnold's earlier...

  Friday will be Robin Roberts' last day on "Good Morning America" before she goes on medical leave to receive a bone-marrow transplant, the show confirmed Monday. "I can't imagine not getting up and being here," Roberts said in a discussion with co-anchors George Stephanopoulos and Lara Spencer. The donation is coming from her sister, Sally. In advance of Roberts' departure, "Good Morning America" this week is featuring stories of people afflicted by MDS, the rare blood disorder Roberts was diagnosed with this spring.