AFI honors Fey, 'Slumdog'

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- The American Film Institute says the global success of "Slumdog Millionaire" and the soaring career of Tina Fey made its 2008 Moments of Significance list.

"Millionaire" is an acclaimed low-budget movie, set and shot in India and directed by British filmmaker Danny Boyle.

Fey had great success in 2008 with her sit-com "30 Rock." She also starred in the hit movie "Baby Mama" and returned to her old stomping grounds at "Saturday Night Live" to give a spot-on impression of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

Also included on AFI's roster of eight memorable events and trends determined to have had an impact on the world of the moving image during the calendar year 2008 are: the way television and new technologies allowed the world to closely follow the latest U.S. Presidential election; NBC's coverage of the Summer Olympics in Beijing; disputes between artists and executives, as well as the redefinition of business models for the digital age; and the distribution crisis independent film artists faced and the way independent film divisions of major studios either closed or were folded back into the their parent companies.

AFI also took note of the elimination of full-time, film-critic posts at Time, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, The Village Voice and Newsday, among others -- due to declines in circulation -- which meant much writing about movies has moved to the Web, "a world where authority can be lost among the voice of the masses."

Completing the Moments of Significance list was director/writer Joss Whedon's "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog," a cult hit released as three 13-minute Web-isodes, which marks "another moment in the evolution of established artists presenting short films online."