AFI Festivals
AFI FEST presented by Audi is the American Film Institute's annual celebration of international cinema from modern masters and emerging filmmakers. It takes place each fall in Hollywood, CA, and features nightly red-carpet galas, special screenings, conversations, and tributes.
I was the lead on social media content for the 2017, 2018, and 2021 festivals and had the great pleasure of covering all red carpet Galas, Q&A panels, and other special events throughout the festival. As AFI is a non-profit institution, it was also important to post sponsored content to fulfill those contractual agreements.
Each year we have had the support of volunteers to help cover all events that overlapped in time. With the support of a great team and a clear social strategy, we have found ourselves trending on social with the hashtag #AFIFEST.
2017 Highlights
Film Q&As
Beyond the glitz & glamour of red carpet, I & a team of volunteers would cover different screenings that had a Q&A component to the event.
Directors & actors from all over the world traveled to Hollywood to show their films at AFI FEST.
Our goal was to grab interesting sound bites that could be repurposed across digital platforms.
2018 Highlights
Our 2018 festival was incredibly important as the emphasis on the film industry has been more and more inclusive. Our 2018 festival included over 60 films directed by females and highlighted many foreign-language films from around the world.
Some of the highlights included special evening events with Nicole Kidman & Natalie Portman to which we highlighted their previous work and screened their latest films at the festival & our partnerships with the digital teams from various studios.
We were able to increase our impressions dramatically with those relationships established and reach more people online than we ever have before.
A Conversation with Nicole Kidman
One of the biggest nights of AFI FEST 2018 was the West Coast premiere of Nicole Kidman’s new film, Destroyer. A long with the screening was a conversation with the film’s star. Nicole Kidman.
Through Annapurna Pictures, we were able to connect with Nicole Kidman’s digital team and get her to create unique content to promote her appearance at the festival.
Studio Collaborations
One of the biggest accomplishments this year was our collaboration with the social media teams from different studios.
We connected with the teams from Fox Searchlight, Netflix, Annapurna Pictures, and Focus Features to align our strategies on all of the red carpet Galas at AFI FEST.
With engagement from the studios social media handles, we saw a significant increase in KPIs & even were trending on Twitter.
2021 Highlights
2020 was a 100% virtual festival due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. The decision was made to make the 2021 festival partially virtual but mostly in-person. We had a significantly less amount of screenings in comparison to previous years and the festival lasted only 5 days versus the typical 8 days.