After finishing "The Grandmother", Lynch took the film to be shown at the AFI in Washington, D.C. The head of the AFI at the time, George Stevens, Jr. found that after all the films had been categorized, only Lynch's defied easy categorization. Stevens and Vellani recommended that Lynch apply to the AFI's Center for Advanced Film Studies. This was a filmmaking conservatory that Vellani had recently started in Beverly Hills. Lynch and Splet both applied for scholarships, and on the strength of "The Grandmother" (which won awards at film festivals in Atlanta, Bellevue and San Francisco), they were accepted into the program.