by Eric Beteille,
AFI FEST Daily News

An Evening with Ed Zwick, November 8, 7:00 PM

For the past two years, filmmaker Ed Zwick has been working on perhaps his most ambitious and demanding film project to date.

Tonight the AFI alum recounts the challenges of making BLOOD DIAMOND, presenting for the first time exclusive, extended clips from the action drama starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou, at AFI FEST 2006 presented by Audi.

Along the way, he will compare the experience with his previous films including GLORY, LEGENDS OF THE FALL, COURAGE UNDER FIRE, THE SIEGE and THE LAST SAMURAI.

An Evening with Ed Zwick is Wednesday, November 8, 7:00 PM at ArcLight Hollywood. Tickets are available at the Box Office on the AFI FEST Rooftop Village, 7th floor of the ArcLight parking structure, 6360 Sunset Blvd., in Los Angeles.

Zwick directed and produced BLOOD DIAMOND, shot on location in South Africa and Mozambique.

BLOOD DIAMOND is set against civil war and chaos in 1990s Sierra Leone, the story of a South African mercenary (Leonardo DiCaprio) and a Mende fisherman (Djimon Hounsou) who come together in a common quest to recover a rare pink diamond that can transform their lives.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou star in BLOOD DIAMOND, directed by Ed Zwick

"Everyone involved in BLOOD DIAMOND, on both sides of the camera, believed in this movie and worked very hard to make it happen," Zwick said.

Zwick was accepted as a Directing Fellow at the American Film Institute in 1975. His AFI short film won first place in the student film competition at the 1976 Chicago Film Festival.

Zwick made his feature film directorial debut on ABOUT LAST NIGHT… (1986). He went on to direct such films as the multiple Academy Award-winning Civil War drama GLORY (1989), the Academy Award-winning feature LEGENDS OF THE FALL (1994) and COURAGE UNDER FIRE (1996).

Zwick was one of the producers on TRAFFIC (2000), the winner of four Academy Awards and two Golden Globe Awards. He also won an Academy Award as a producer on 1999's Best Picture, SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE.

Zwick, along with fellow AFI alumni Darren Aronofsky and David Lynch, is a recipient of AFI's prestigious Franklin J. Schaffner Alumni Medal which recognizes the extraordinary creative talents of a graduate of the AFI Conservatory or of the Directing Workshop for Women.

Warner Bros. releases Zwick's BLOOD DIAMOND in theaters nationwide December 8.