DAY FOUR  November 6, 2005
AFI FEST Daily Wrap
compiled by Brent Simon
It was unofficial Cuban day at AFI FEST 2005 on November 5, kick-started by the AFM/AFI FEST Filmmaker Luncheon in Santa Monica, where host Andy Garcia spoke about independent film to a packed house, and AFI FEST Director of Festivals Christian Gaines and Jonathan Wolf, Director of AFM, gave overviews of how to best utilize the strategic alliance between AFM and AFI FEST... Later that evening, Garcia and his passel of his celebrity friends--including Inés Sastre, Anthony LaPaglia, Patrick Swayze, Steven Bauer and others--attended the screening of THE LOST CITY, Garcia's theatrical directorial debut, and partied into the night in The Loft, where the liquor flowed and cigars were savored... The film's choreographer, Lorena Feijoo, inspired everyone to dance, but people conscientiously avoided her valuable feet, insured against damage... Music fans enjoyed a midnight Rooftop Village screening of BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB, preceded by a music video featuring La Fabri-K, from the Latin Cinema Series film of same name... Prior to its screenings at AFI FEST on November 8 and 10, FUNNY HA HA writer-director Andrew Bujalski's sophomore film, MUTUAL APPRECIATION, was acquired for distribution by Goodbye Cruel Releasing... Grupo Novo de Cinema e TV will be repping Pele... Seventeen film canisters for Katrina Relief Art were decorated and signed by the entire casts and crews of THE LOST CITY and AN AMERICAN HAUNTING, and dedicated to be auctioned off for charity... At the Q&A following the screening of SCREAMING MASTERPIECE, director Ari Alexander Ergis snapped pictures of the appreciative audience and promised that some of the 250 hours of footage accrued for the documentary on the Icelandic music scene would appear on its DVD release... European Film Promotion's New Faces in European Cinema were feted in The Loft; all eight honorees were in attendance, and President of EFP Claudia Landsberger flew in from the Netherlands to host the event.
 
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