American Film Institute Reveals 2026-2027 Canva Fellowship Recipients — SkimNews
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- AFI announced six recipients of its 2026-27 Canva Fellowship, one for each major filmmaking discipline: Divli Bhat (producing), Elizaveta Kurilova (screenwriting), Lauren Moreno (directing), Colin Pham (cinematography), Zoey Punteney (production design), and Auberin Strickland (editing).
- Each fellow receives a $40,000 scholarship over the two-year MFA filmmaking program at the AFI Conservatory, which they began in August.
- AFI Conservatory dean Susan Ruskin said the Canva partnership, now in its fourth year, "prepares Fellows to lead — amplifying their voices and sharing diverse perspectives with audiences worldwide."
- Lauren Moreno, a third-generation Mexican American filmmaker, earned multiple awards and festival selections for her debut film "Palmdale" and aims to center Latino identity in her work.
- Zoey Punteney runs a YouTube channel with 10,000 subscribers where she discovered her love of video editing, and hopes to eventually work on major feature films.
- Auberin Strickland, originally from Alaska and trilingual in French, German, and Italian, runs Crooked Footprint Productions with his brother Dune Strickland.
Why it matters: Six fellows representing every major filmmaking craft each receive a $40,000 scholarship — a concrete commitment from Canva in year four of its AFI partnership. The cohort reflects AFI's stated focus on amplifying diverse perspectives, including a third-generation Mexican American director and a trilingual Alaskan editor, giving underrepresented voices direct access to MFA training and industry pipelines.
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