The Association of Film Commissioners International (AFCI) has elected its first female majority board of directors and its first Europe-based chairperson in more than a decade. In all, the 2022 AFCI board is the most geographically and culturally diverse in the organization’s 46-year history.
Bas van der Ree from the Netherlands Film Commission becomes AFCI’s first board chairperson representing Europe in more than a decade. He will lead the 2022 AFCI board which is the organization’s most geographically and culturally diverse to date, as well as the first female majority board (eight of 11 members) in AFCI’s 46-year history.
“AFCI’s Board represents the diverse needs and interests of our members, and I feel very honored to serve as chair,” said van der Ree. “Our newly elected, culturally diverse board will aim to further nurture and grow sustainable connections between industry professionals from all corners of the globe. We’ll also celebrate our amazing locations and staff.”
A longtime AFCI member, van der Ree previously served as the board’s 1st vice chair. He has been the Netherlands film commissioner since 2014, when the nation’s film production incentive was launched.
“I’m thrilled to work with Bas and such a smart and geographically-diverse board,” said AFCI president Eve Honthaner. “Each member brings the experience and perspective needed to work collectively to cement AFCI’s reputation as a valued global entity. Our 2022 board is committed to helping AFCI grow and thrive.”
Officers include 1st vice chair Donne Dawson from the Hawaii State Film Office, 2nd vice chair Silvia Echeverri from the Colombia Film Commission, secretary Sorrel Geddes from the British Film Commission and treasurer Steven Davenport from Screen Ireland.
The board also includes three newly elected members–Gina Black from Screen Queensland, Marnie Gee from Creative BC and Renee Robinson from Film Jamaica. Three members–van der Ree, Dawson, and the Mississippi Film Office's Nina Parikh–have been re-elected for new two-year terms.
Finally, the four members returning for the second year of their two-year terms are Davenport, Echeverri and Geddes, along with Timothy Owase from the Kenya Film Commission and Erin Stam from AusFilm. Outgoing chair Tim Clark from the Buffalo Niagara Film Office will serve as ex-officio board member.
AFCI’s 2022 board will focus on empowering film commissions to face a rapidly changing global production landscape driven by an ever-increasing demand for content. Workforce training, infrastructure development, technology adoption, and, of course, the ongoing impact of COVID are all on the agenda.
Carrie Coon Relishes Being Part Of An Ensemble–From “The Gilded Age” To “His Three Daughters”
It can be hard to catch Carrie Coon on her own.
She is far more likely to be found in the thick of an ensemble. That could be on TV, in "The Gilded Age," for which she was just Emmy nominated, or in the upcoming season of "The White Lotus," which she recently shot in Thailand. Or it could be in films, most relevantly, Azazel Jacobs' new drama, "His Three Daughters," in which Coon stars alongside Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen as sisters caring for their dying father.
But on a recent, bright late-summer morning, Coon is sitting on a bench in the bucolic northeast Westchester town of Pound Ridge. A few years back, she and her husband, the playwright Tracy Letts, moved near here with their two young children, drawn by the long rows of stone walls and a particularly good BLT from a nearby cafe that Letts, after biting into, declared must be within 15 miles of where they lived.
In a few days, they would both fly to Los Angeles for the Emmys (Letts was nominated for his performance in "Winning Time" ). But Coon, 43, was then largely enmeshed in the day-to-day life of raising a family, along with their nightly movie viewings, which Letts pulls from his extensive DVD collection. The previous night's choice: "Once Around," with Holly Hunter and Richard Dreyfus.
Coon met Letts during her breakthrough performance in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?" on Broadway in 2012. She played the heavy-drinking housewife Honey. It was the first role that Coon read and knew, viscerally, she had to play. Immediately after saying this, Coon sighs.
"It sounds like something some diva would say in a movie from the '50s," Coon says. "I just walked around in my apartment in my slip and I had pearls and a little brandy. I made a grocery list and I just did... Read More