Aronofsky, Arteta and Ambrosino!

The above mentioned family names have a lot points in common. They all happen to be cinephiles at heart, they are filmmakers, their familia name begins with the letter ‘A’ and I happen to have caught all of their last films but most importantly, they were all members of the AFI Conservatory in directing.

While for most, the American Film Institute is known for bringing out a yearly list of top 100 movie lists with themes (Best Villains was my fav.), what they also do is bombard us with future filmmakers and this is why I’m extremely happy to share this bit of personal news. Our good friend Justin Ambrosino (by far ioncinema.com’s numero uno correspondent for us in the big city of NY) is packing up his bags, celluloid film and heading for another big city called L.A. Justin was among one of the “lucky” (I don’t believe in luck – I believe in talent) to get accepted into 2006/07 edition in Directing. While he won’t be leaving just yet (Justin I’m going to keep your ass busy till the departure date!) I’m planning on keeping tabs on this talented “voice” – and by voice I mean a lot more than film writing and film reporting.

Here is a sprinkling of others names to have graduated from the same program: Todd Field (class of '92), Carl Franklin (class of '86), Patty Jenkins (class of '00), David Lynch (class of '70), Terrence Malick (class of '69) and Paul Schrader (class of '69).