Mumbai: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has awarded a $50,000 grant to underwrite the 2011 Telluride Film Festival’s Guest Director program, this year featuring musician Caetano Veloso.

Veloso has over 100 film and television credits, but may be best known for his performance of “Cucurrucucú Paloma” (“Cucurrucucu Dove”) in Pedro Almodóvar’s film, Talk to Her.

This is the fourth consecutive year that the Academy has funded the program.

"The Guest Director Program brings added depth and a rare variety of films to the festival that we consider an integral part of our program’s success," said Telluride Film Festival Co-Director Julie Huntsinger. "The support from The Academy and our ongoing partnership allows us to continue working with artists, whose film selections are sourced from film vaults across the globe, and put together a program our audience expects and deserves."

For more than two decades, Telluride has welcomed numerous prominent filmmakers and personalities to help select and present each year’s films. Previous guest directors include writer-director Peter Bogdanovich, director Jean-Pierre Gorin, film curator and archivist Edith Kramer, documentarian Errol Morris, author Salman Rushdie, composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, and filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier.

The Academy Foundation – the Academy’s cultural and educational wing – annually distributes more than $1 million to film scholars, cultural organizations and film festivals throughout the U.S. and abroad. The Foundation also presents the Academy’s h assortment of screenings and public programs each year.