AFI Fest Treats Revelers to Free Fare

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Tuesday, 26 October 2010 23:23

Written by Laura Blum

Taking its cue from TV and the web, the AFI Fest will once again offer free entertainment – brought to you by corporate sponsors -- when it opens for “business” November 4 to 11, 2010. The flagship Festival of the American Film Institute partly has Audi to thank for its complimentary screenings and galas (and does so prominently by mentioning the carmaker in its moniker).

Los Angeles’ oldest-running film festival will unfurl in and around a clutch of vintage venues across Hollywood. Festival headquarters are at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, with screenings and special events converging on Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, the Mann Chinese 6 theatres and the Egyptian Theatre. AFI Fest 2010 will screen 97 films, including 66 features and 31 shorts, chosen from 3,000 submissions across 31 countries. Shorts screened at the Festival are officially eligible for Oscar consideration.

AFI Fest joins the growing roster of festivals credited with touching off the awards season each year. Now in its 24th year, the cinema showcase caters both to the hometown industry and lay cinephile.

The Festival coincides with the American Film Market (November 3 to 10, 2010),  produced by the Independent Film & Television Alliance. Whereas the AFI Fest targets the film-going public, the AFM serves film buyers and industry professionals who descend on neighboring Santa Monica from more than 70 countries for eight days of deal-making, screenings, seminars and networking events. Its program spans 409 movies. Presented in tandem, the AFI Fest and AFM are the only market/festival combo in North America.

For the Opening Night film slot, the AFI Fest will show the world premiere of Love & Other Drugs, directed by Edward Zwick. Darren Aronofsky’s Black Swan is the Closing Night Gala film.

Among the buzz-whipping events are the six Centerpiece Galas, among which figures The King’s Speech, crowned by a tribute with director Tom Hooper and stars Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush. Other Centerpiece Galas are:

• Abel, by Diego Luna
• Barney’s Version, by Richard J. Lewis
• Blue Valentine, by Derek Cianfrance
• Casino Jack, by George Hickenlooper
• The Company Me, by John Wells

For the first time, the Festival has brought on board a Guest Artistic Director: David Lynch. In addition to curating a sidebar, the unorthodox filmmaker is slated to address the audience in a special sit-down. Anyone curious to see his taste in film may be amused to see among the sidebar his cult debut feature, Eraserhead, which he began working on while a student at AFI, as well as:

• Ingmar Bergman's Hour of the Wolf
• Stanley Kubrick's Lolita
• Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window
• Jacques Tati's Mon Oncle
• Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard

Also on the Festival playbill are special screenings, such as:

• Amigo, by John Sayles
• Cave of Forgotten Dreams, by Werner Herzog (presented in 3-D)
• Made in Dagenham, by Nigel Cole
• Rabbit Hole, by John Cameron Mitchell

AFI Fest encompasses five sections: World Cinema, which advances new works by celebrated filmmakers; Midnight, screening comedy and horror films at the witchy hour; Alt/Art, a showcase of films about art, artists and the challenges to free artistic expression; Breakthrough – in its inaugural edition – spotlighting discovery films; and Shorts.

Dig for the rest of the details at AFI.com/AFIFEST

AFI Fest presented by Audi
November 4-11, 2010
Grauman’s Chinese Theatre
6925 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood, CA 90028

The Mann Chinese 6 theatres
6801 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood, CA 90028

The Egyptian Theatre
American Cinematheque
6712 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood, CA 90028

The Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel
7000 Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood, CA 90028

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