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14:46 PST 01/25/2021
by
Etan Vlessing
ASU launches the Sidney Poitier New American Film School as an “egalitarian” institution aimed at including, not excluding, students of color and first generation families.
Arizona State University brought Sidney Poitier’s name and reputation as a groundbreaking black actor in Hollywood to its Sidney Poitier New American Film School as it expands to three cities in Arizona and California.
Having Oscar winner Poitier – who in 1964 became the first black winner of the Best Actor Oscar for filming in Arizona Field lilies – lend his name to his film school, ASU President Michael Crow seeks to demonstrate that the school includes, and does not exclude, students of color and first-generation families.
“We decided to develop the institution and diversify the institution by not becoming more selective, because selectivity is a social disruption creeping in a negative way,” Crow says. THR. He adds that Poitier symbolizes ASU’s quest for inclusion and diversity having come to Hollywood and film stardom as an immigrant, passing through New York and the Bahamas.
“He [Poitier] was born in Miami, but really grew up in the Bahamas, he then comes to this country, he finds his way, he finds his art, and all of it through hard work, effort and creativity, and that’s what we let’s research, ”Crow insists. while its film school students continue their studies and make careers in film, television or new immersive technologies.
Michael Burns, ASU alumnus and Lionsgate vice president, recalls when the university first purchased the historic Herald Examiner building in Los Angeles as part of an expansion project to the film school, and when President Crow told her she had yet to name the new facility. “I said ‘What about Sidney Poitier?’ This is the first name that came to my mind, ”he told THR after meeting the screen legend and his wife years earlier at a Hollywood dinner party.
“He [Poitier] is one of the most stylish men I have ever met in my life, and smart villain, ”said Burns. After the director of Lionsgate contacted the Poitier family, they agreed to lend his name to the new school as a symbol of ASU’s mission of diversity and innovation for the institution.
In fall 2022, ASU’s Film School will relocate to a new facility in downtown Mesa, Arizona, while also operating from the new Los Angeles facility. Students at Sidney Poitier New American Film School will also gain hands-on experience in Hollywood technology through partnerships, including with the John Hughes Institute and Dreamscape Immersive, the virtual reality company.
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