AFAI - Nonprofit Information

ATHENS FILM ARTS INSTITUTE

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization—under the stewardship of THE ATHENS FILM ARTS INSTITUTE (AFAI), an all-volunteer Athens-based Board of Directors—Ciné reflects and celebrates the complex tapestry of the community we serve. AFAI ensures that Ciné can continue its unique and vital role in Athens’ cultural life, helping to make our town a better place to live, work, visit, and do business. Our mission to inspire, educate, and build community through art and culture is at the core of everything we do.

Ciné is honored to have stewardship of this historic space and strives to create a warm and welcoming environment and inclusive community through the arts by serving as an art house cinema, an educational resource center, an art gallery, and music and performance space.  As a gathering site for local organizations and a locus of conversation for the diverse Athens citizenry, Ciné coordinates film screenings with filmmaker introductions, lectures, and panel discussions, supports educational, cultural, and civic events, and partners with community groups, schools, nonprofits, and local artists to showcase their work.

We value the downtown aesthetic that the city of Athens has cultivated and achieved. Downtown Athens is thriving as a desired music, entertainment, and dining location for Athenians as well as tourists with downtown businesses and nonprofit establishments contributing and enhancing the vitality and livability of our city.

BOARD OF ADVISORS

Ruta Abolins
Ruta Abolins is Director of the Brown Media Archives & Peabody Awards Collection at the University of Georgia. She loves independent and classic films and prefers seeing them on the big screen. She is a past board president of the Athens Film Arts Institute.

Matthew H. Bernstein
Matthew H. Bernstein is Department Chair of Film and Media Studies at Emory University where he also holds the Goodrich C. White Professor. He serves on the National Film Preservation Board for the Library of Congress. In Atlanta, he has been co-chair of the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival and is a member of its Board of Directors. He has hosted The Cinema Club on Sundays since 1998 and is on the Board of Directors for the Plaza Theater Foundation and organizes the Emory Cinémathèque each semester. Matthew Bernstein has written and edited six books and scores of significant articles.

Cassie Bryant

Brian Carney

Dave Marr
Dave Marr is the communications director of the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts at UGA. He served on AFAI, Ciné’s nonprofit Board of Directors, from 2011-2019, including as chair from 2016-2017. Before joining the Willson Center, he served as Flagpole’s film columnist and city editor. Dave holds degrees in film studies and journalism from UGA.

Carl Martin
Carl Martin is co-owner of D.O.C. Unlimited in Athens, GA and served on AFAI, Ciné’s nonprofit Board of Directors, from 2011-2019. D.O.C. Unlimited projects range from large scale (+20k square feet) commercial design rehabilitations to very small scale residential construction. Past experience includes projects as lead designer for projects in New York City and Savannah, GA., and included in that range is the building that AFAI dba Cine’ now owns.

Peter Smith

Margie Spalding

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