Deschanel to Receive AFI’s Schaffner Medal June 4
Caleb Deschanel, ASC will receive the American Film Institute's Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Medal at the AFI Life Achievement Awards ceremony on June 4.
The honor "recognizes the extraordinary creative talents of an AFI Conservatory alum who embodies the qualities of filmmaker Franklin Schaffner: talent, taste, dedication and commitment to quality filmmaking," according to the AFI press release. Over the course of his 40-year career, Schaffner received 28 Academy Award nominations, winning Best Director for Patton.
Deschanel enrolled in AFI's inaugural class in 1969, after earning a B.A. at Johns Hopkins University and studying film at the University of Southern California. His fellow AFI classmates included directors David Lynch and Terrence Malick, both of whom have also received the Schaffner Medal. Previous recipients also include cinematographers Wally Pfister, ASC, and Janusz Kaminski.
Deschanel, who recently wrapped Warren Beatty's as-yet-untitled feature about Howard Hughes, is a five-time Academy Award nominee (for The Passion of the Christ, The Patriot, Fly Away Home, The Natural and The Right Stuff). He won an ASC Award for The Patriot and was also nominated by the Society for The Passion of the Christ and Fly Away Home.
He received the ASC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.
AFI presented Deschanel with an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts degree in 2008.
