Telluride Film Festival gets $50,000 from Academy

Sep 02, 2009 by Ian Evans

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has awarded the Telluride Film Festival a $50,000 grant to underwrite its Guest Director program, which this year features the director and Oscar®-winning screenwriter of Sideways, Alexander Payne.

“It’s very gratifying for the Academy to be able to support this program, especially at a time when arts funding is so critical,” said Academy President Tom Sherak. “That the festival has chosen one of our members, and a former governor, as guest director simply enriches this year’s gift.”

This is the second consecutive year that the Academy has funded the program. In 2008 the festival’s guest director was Slavoj Zizek, the Slovenian political philosopher and cultural critic.