The Dallas Film Society will continue the Dallas International Film Festival even though the American Film Institute will no longer sponsor the event.

The parties announced yesterday that they had completed their initial three-year pact and will now discuss ways to work together on a project basis only.

The agreement started in 2006 for AFI to support the launch of the city’s largest international film festival. Now the non-profit society said it it already planning the 2010 event and will announce details in coming weeks.

“AFI is proud to have played a role in launching the Dallas Film Society’s annual film festival,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI President and CEO. “Dallas is home to many of this nation’s premier arts organizations, and AFI is honored to have helped establish a proper place for film along side the other arts in this great city.”

“For more than 40 years, AFI has honored and celebrated filmmaking, and their expertise and experience have been invaluable to us,” said Ruth O’Donnell Mutch, the festival’s first donor and now Chair of the DALLAS Film Society board of directors. “This relationship has helped DALLAS to take its place among the nation’s top 20 film festivals, with more than 100,000 attendees in our first three years.”

AFI continues to run AFI Fest in Los Angeles and the AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs festival in Silver Spring, Maryland (which is currently underway).

Topics