Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
On August 8, 2025, the American Film Institute 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.
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.”
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.
Watch Walter Murch's speech here: youtu.be/4UDoH7BhDkg
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On August 8, 2025, the American Film Institute 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.
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.”
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.
Watch Walter Murch's speech here: youtu.be/4UDoH7BhDkg
►Subscribe to AFI on YouTube: bit.ly/SubscribeAFI
►Follow AFI:
instagram.com/AmericanFilmInstitute
tiktok.com/@americanfilminstitute
facebook.com/AmericanFilmInstitute
twitter.com/AmericanFilm
►Sign up for AFI Newsletters: afi.com/sign-up/?method=signups
#movies #afi #film #americanfilminstitute
