Today, the American Film Institute (AFI) conferred Doctorates of Fine Arts degrees, honoris causa, for contributions of distinction to the art of the moving image upon trailblazing actress and producer Viola Davis and legendary film editor and sound designer Walter Murch during the AFI Conservatory’s Class of 2025 commencement ceremony at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

Davis was introduced on stage by groundbreaking filmmaker Gina Prince-Bythewood and Murch was introduced by Academy Award-nominated cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (AFI Class of 1969). The commencement celebrated the AFI Fellows’ completion of two years of concentrated study in AFI’s MFA program. The 143 graduating filmmakers specialized in one of six disciplines – Cinematography, Directing, Editing, Producing, Production Design or Screenwriting – and collectively created the equivalent of 10 feature films during their two years at AFI. The class features 52% female filmmakers, 20% domestic Fellows of color and 52% international filmmakers.

Bob Gazzale, AFI President and CEO, opened the ceremony by welcoming the graduating Fellows and their friends and families.

In accepting her AFI Honorary Degree, Davis remarked, “You have the power to come home to that one thing that made you want to do this. To be healers, to be alchemists, to buck the system, to see life just a little bit different, and therefore you don’t just leave something for people. You leave something in them.”

Murch, in accepting his AFI Honorary Degree, shared with the graduating class, “When thinking about the future, it occasionally pays to be unreasonably bold.”

Davis and Murch join an esteemed group of distinguished past recipients, including Robert Altman, Maya Angelou, Saul Bass, Angela Bassett, Kathryn Bigelow, Mel Brooks, Carol Burnett, Anne V. Coates, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ernest R. Dickerson, Clint Eastwood, Roger Ebert, Nora Ephron, Jodie Foster, Lesli Linka Glatter, Lawrence Herbert, James Earl Jones, Lawrence Kasdan, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Kathleen Kennedy, Angela Lansbury, Spike Lee, David Lynch, Helen Mirren, Rita Moreno, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Paul Schrader, Quentin Tarantino, Lily Tomlin, Robert Towne, Cicely Tyson, Haskell Wexler, John Williams and Michelle Yeoh.

Following the conferment of the honorary degrees, Susan Ruskin, Dean of the AFI Conservatory and Executive Vice President of AFI, addressed the Class of 2025 and praised their commitment and creativity. “Today, you are no longer just Fellows – you are now alumni of this great institution. You join a community of artists across the globe who are finding their purpose in their own work, every day.”

The ceremony concluded with class representative Kirby Saxton sharing, “I’m told that we are the future of the medium. If that’s true, then it’s our obligation to be true human beings. To show courage in these hard times. The courage to tell the stories that we have in our hearts.”

In addition to the commencement ceremony, AFI is hosting industry spotlights featuring the work of the graduating filmmakers. The spotlights are part of AFI’s Bridge to the Future program for Conservatory graduates. The Cinematography Spotlight will take place on Saturday, August 9 and will feature a collection of three-minute films all shot on motion picture film by AFI Conservatory Fellows. The Directing Spotlight will take place in October during AFI FEST presented by Canva at the TCL Chinese Theatres. The Production Design Spotlight took place earlier this week on the AFI Campus. Additional Discipline Spotlights will be announced soon.

Applications to the AFI Conservatory open on September 5, 2025. Learn more at AFI.edu.

About the American Film Institute (AFI)
The American Film Institute (AFI) is a nonprofit organization with a mandate to champion the moving image as an art form. Established in 1967, AFI launched the first comprehensive history of American film and sparked the movement for film preservation in the United States. In 1969, AFI opened the doors of the AFI Conservatory, a graduate-level program to train narrative filmmakers. The Conservatory, which counts Deniese Davis, Affonso Gonçalves, Susannah Grant, Matthew Libatique, David Lynch, Melina Matsoukas and Rachel Morrison as Alumni, is ranked one of the top film schools in America. AFI’s enduring traditions include the AFI Life Achievement Award, which honors the masters for work that has stood the test of time; AFI AWARDS, which celebrates the creative ensembles of the most outstanding screen stories of the year; and scholarly efforts such as the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and the AFI Archive that preserve film history for future generations. AFI exhibition programs include AFI FEST Presented by Canva and year-round exhibition at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Maryland. AFI Movie Club is a destination for movie lovers from around the world to celebrate and engage with the art form every day. Other pioneering programs include workshops aimed at elevating emerging storytellers and technology, including AFI DWW+ and the AFI Cinematography Intensive Workshop. Read about all of these programs and more at AFI.com and follow us on social media at Facebook.com/AmericanFilmInstitute, YouTube.com/AFI, X.com/AmericanFilm, TikTok.com/@americanfilminstitute and Instagram.com/AmericanFilmInstitute.