American Film Foundation

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The American Film Foundation (AFF) is a production company based in Southern California. It was formed in 1976, headed by Terry Sanders and Freida Lee Mock. [1] It produces films with a particular focus on the arts, humanities, and sciences. [1] [2] The company has won three Oscar awards among ten nominations and two Emmy awards. [1] Most notable among those are the 1994 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film for the film Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision [3] and the 1988 Emmy Award for the documentary Lillian Gish: An Actor's Life for Me for the American Masters television series. [4] [5] [6] The company has completed over 60 films till date. [1]

Contents

Selected works

Controversies

In 1995, AFF went through a controversy when its documentary film Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision won the award for Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film at the 67th Academy Awards.

The press accused expressed their displeasure at the nomination and the subsequent awarding of the documentary, primarily because Mock was the film's director who had previously served as a chairperson at the Academy's documentary-feature screening committee. [7] Film critic Kenneth Turan wrote that the documentary being nominated for the award "smacks of cronyism of the worst sort". [8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Molloy, Tim (2021-05-22). "Moviemaker of the Week: Terry Sanders - MovieMaker Magazine". www.moviemaker.com. Retrieved 2025-10-05.
  2. ↑ Tracy, Andrew. "Veteran filmmaker Terry Sanders launches production on doc feature "Rescuing Democracy"" . Retrieved 2025-10-05.
  3. ↑ Petty, Susan (April 4, 1994). "Producer Describes Oscar Night". Ventua County Star. p. A6.
  4. ↑ "Emmy Voters Recognize Controversial Programs". Syracuse Herald-Hournal. September 18, 1989. p. F4.
  5. 1 2 Hough, Q. V. (2024-06-01). "Passion, Truth and Lillian Gish: The American Film Foundation Collection Releases Digitally on Vimeo". Vague Visages. Retrieved 2025-10-05.
  6. ↑ Henninger, Paul (July 10, 1988). "Gish Still Sparkles after 75 Years as Star". San Francisco Chronicle. p. Datebook 43.
  7. ↑ Guthmann, Edward. "Freida Lee Mock's Strong Clear Vision / Director says `Lin' stands on its own". www.sfgate.com. SFGate. Retrieved 8 October 2025.
  8. ↑ Turan, Kenneth (15 February 1995). "THE 67TH ACADEMY AWARD NOMINATIONS : COMMENTARY : 'Hoop,' 'Red' Expose Holes in Academy Categories". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 8 October 2025.


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