The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has awarded a $50,000 grant to underwrite the 2009 edition of the Telluride Film Festival’s Guest Director program, which this year will feature Alexander Payne, among whose credits are Election, About Schmidt, and Sideways.
This is the second consecutive year that the Academy has funded the program. In 2008, the festival’s guest director was Slovenian political philosopher and cultural critic Slavoj Zizek.
Previous guest directors at the Telluride Film Festival include Academy Award-nominated writer-director Peter Bogdanovich, director Jean-Pierre Gorin, film curator and archivist Edith Kramer, Oscar-winning documentarian Errol Morris, author Salman Rushdie, Oscar-winning composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, and filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier.
As per the Academy's press release, the Academy Foundation — the Academy’s cultural and educational wing — annually grants more than $1 million to film scholars, cultural organizations and film festivals both in the US and abroad, all that in addition to the presentation of screenings and other public programs throughout the year.
The 2009 Telluride Film Festival runs Sept. 4-7.