The American Film Institute announced the full lineup for this year's AFI Fest on Tuesday, giving local audiences the chance for the first time to catch up on many titles from this year's international festival circuit. The festival will take place from October 23 to 27.
As previously announced, AFI Fest will open with the world premiere of Laurent Bouzereau's documentary “Music by John Williams,” a portrait of the five-time Oscar-winning film composer behind the themes of “Jaws,” “Star Wars,” “ Superman”And many others. As its central screening, the festival will host the world premiere of Robert Zemeckis' “Here,” which reunites him with “Forrest Gump” stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright. Zemeckis will also host Directors Spotlight, an event that will feature clips and a professional conversation between the filmmaker and his frequent collaborator Hanks.
The festival will close with the world premiere of 94-year-old Clint Eastwood's “Juror #2,” a legal thriller starring Nicholas Hoult.
Actor Nicholas Hoult and director Clint Eastwood during the production of “Juror #2.”
(Claire Folger/Warner Bros. Pictures)
“We are proud to bring the best of cinema from around the world to the city of Los Angeles,” Todd Hitchcock, director of AFI Fest and the AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, said in a statement. statement. “It is a celebration of storytelling in all its forms, where diverse voices and unique perspectives promise to inspire audiences of all ages.”
In its second year under Hitchcock's leadership, the festival appears to be taking on the role of selecting the year's highlights and bringing them to Los Angeles audiences. Among the films announced Tuesday were many from the year's festival circuit, including titles that premiered at Sundance, Berlin, SXSW, Tribeca, Cannes, Venice, Telluride and Toronto.
Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault’s “Zurawski v Texas,” a documentary about abortion rights produced by Hilary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton and Jennifer Lawrence, premiered in Telluride.
“María” by Pablo Larraín, starring Angelina Jolie as opera star María Callas; “September 5,” by Tim Fehlbaum, which dramatizes the hostage crisis at the 1972 Olympic Games; “Harvest,” by Athina Rachel Tsangari, a medieval drama about agricultural life; Alex Ross Perry's “Pavements,” which weaves together fact and fable to tell the story of '90s indie-rock heroes Pavement; and Justin Kurzel's true-life crime drama “The Order” premiered in Venice.
Rooney Mara and Raúl Briones in the movie “The Kitchen”.
(AFI Festival)
Alonso Ruizpalacios' “La Cocina,” about multilingual culture clash in a New York City restaurant kitchen, starring Raúl Briones and Rooney Mara, premiered earlier this year in Berlin. Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor did the same in “No Other Land”, a documentary about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict made by a collective of filmmakers from both countries. Screenings at festivals like AFI Fest are the only way for audiences to see the urgent and timely film, which has not yet been distributed in the United States.
Among the films premiering at Cannes were David Cronenberg's heartbroken drama “The Shrouds,” Paul Schrader's reunion with his “American Gigolo” star Richard Gere in “Oh, Canada” and “Caught by the Tides.” Jia Zhang-ke, which presents Images captured by the director over two decades. Andrea Arnold's fantasy drama “Bird,” actress-filmmaker Noémie Merlant's horror comedy “The Balconettes” and Carson Lund's New England baseball drama “Eephus” also debuted at Cannes.
From Toronto comes Mike Leigh's first contemporary drama in 14 years, “Hard Truths”; Durga Chew-Bose’s “Bonjour Tristesse,” an elegant adaptation of Françoise Sagan’s classic coming-of-age novel; and “The Luckiest Man in America” by Samir Oliveros, about a behind-the-scenes scandal on the game show “Press Your Luck.” Also premiering in Toronto was Rachel Morrison's boxing drama “The Fire Inside,” scripted by Barry Jenkins, and Marielle Heller's psychological motherhood horror story, “Nightbitch,” starring Amy Adams.
Jesse Eisenberg's comedy-drama about coming to terms with history, “A Real Pain,” and Chris Smith's documentary about the long-running musical group, “Devo,” premiered earlier this year at Sundance. AFI Fest will also screen “De-Evolution Is Real: The Restored Films of Devo,” a selection of material from the band's extensive archives.
An image from the documentary “Dahomey” by Mati Diop, Senegal's selection for the Academy Award for International Feature Film.
(AFI Festival)
The festival program will include nine titles representing their respective countries for the international Academy Award, including “Dahomey” by Mati Diop, “Grand Tour” by Miguel Gomes, “I'm Still Here” by Walter Salles, “Santosh ” by Sandhya Suri and “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” by Mohammad Rasoulof, “Sujo” by Astrid Rondero, “Under the Volcano” by Damian Kocur, “Universal Language” by Matthew Rankin and “Vermiglio” by Maura Delpero.
Last year's festival featured more than 20 international feature Oscar nominations, in addition to opening with the world premiere of Sam Esmail's “Leave the World Behind” and closing with a screening of Bradley Cooper's “Maestro.”
Passes for this year's AFI Fest are now available at fest.afi.com and eight-ticket packs will go on sale October 4, with individual tickets available starting October 7.
