This Year at AFI FEST

AFI FEST 2006 Announces Award Winners

• Grand Jury Award for International Feature: GRBAVICA (Special Mention: THE ART OF CRYING)
• Aquafina Pure Vision Award - Grand Jury Award for International Documentary: BUDDHA'S LOST CHILDREN (Special Mention: BACK HOME)
• Grand Jury Award for International Short: DISAPPEARING (Special Mention: SILENCE IS GOLDEN)
• Audience Award - Feature: VITUS
• Audience Award - Documentary: BLINDSIGHT and SCREAMERS (Tie)
• Audience Award - Short: FAIR TRADE

AFI FEST 2006 presented by Audi announces its award winners.

GRBAVICA wins Grand Jury Prize for International Feature Competition. THE ART OF CRYING receives a special mention.

BUDDHA'S LOST CHILDREN received the Aquafina Pure Vision Award International Documentary Grand Jury Prize of a $10,000 unrestricted grant for the film's director, Mark Verkerk.

The shorts Jury Prize went to DISAPPEARING. The filmmaker receives a $10,000 camera package from Dalsa Digital Cinema. Short SILENCE IS GOLDEN received a special mention.

The Audience Award for Feature Film went to VITUS, and BLINDSIGHT and SCREAMERS tied for Audience Award for Documentary. FAIR TRADE garnered the Audience Award for Short.

AFI FEST Director of Programming Nancy Collet says, "I really had no idea who the awards were going to go to this FEST and am not surprised that there were so many special mentions and ties."

Collet emphasizes: "The quality of films across the board were particularly strong this year."

Each Jury Award winner receives $5,000 in motion picture film from the Eastman Kodak Company as well as film related prizes from our other sponsors including DALSA Digital Cinema, Absolut Vodka, Avid Technology, Entertainment Partners , IndieWIRE, Final Draft, Hollywood Creative Directory, Variety and Virgin Megastore.

Audience Award winners above received film related prizes from sponsors including Absolut Vodka, Avid Technology, Best Buy, Entertainment Partners, Final Draft, Hollywood Creative Directory, IndieWIRE, Level Vodka, Variety and Virgin Megastore. Ballots for the Audience Award were made available by the Los Angeles Times: The Envelope.

AFI FEST 2006 Centerpiece Galas; Evening with Ed Zwick

AFI FEST 2006 presented by Audi announces two Centerpiece Galas: Darren Aronofsky's THE FOUNTAIN starring Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz, and David Lynch's INLAND EMPIRE starring Laura Dern, Jeremy Irons and Justin Theroux.

Additionally, AN EVENING WITH ED ZWICK has been added to AFI FEST.

Aronofsky, Lynch and Zwick are alumni of the American Film Institute Conservatory's directing program.

Aronofsky's THE FOUNTAIN screens as an AFI FEST Centerpiece Gala on Saturday, November 11, 2006 at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. In 1994, Aronofsky received an M.F.A. in Directing from AFI.

Lynch's INLAND EMPIRE screens as a Centerpiece Gala on Friday, November 3 at AFI FEST. Lynch was accepted as a directing fellow in 1970 and received a grant from AFI.

AN EVENING WITH ED ZWICK is Wednesday, November 8 at AFI FEST. Utilizing never-seen extended clips from his upcoming film BLOOD DIAMOND, Zwick will recount the challenges of directing the film. Zwick was accepted as a Directing Fellow at AFI in 1975.

AFI FEST 2006 Tributes Penélope Cruz

AFI FEST 2006 presented by Audi selects Penélope Cruz (pictured, right) to receive the Festival's annual Tribute. The Tribute to Penélope Cruz will take place at ArcLight Hollywood's Cinerama Dome on Thursday, November 2, 2006. VOLVER, the acclaimed film from Pedro Almodóvar (pictured, left), starring Cruz, premieres that evening following the Tribute as part of the Festival's Centerpiece Gala series.

VOLVER, recently announced as Spain's official selection to the 79th Oscar Best Foreign Film category, is a Sony Pictures Classic release starring Cruz, Carmen Maura, Lola Dueñas, Blanca Portillo and Yohana Cobo.

The Tribute will celebrate Cruz's career with a lively on-stage conversation, film clips, a few surprises and visits from special friends.

AFI FEST 2006 Announces Nine Special Presentations

The following films are part of the Special Presentation series at AFI FEST presented by Audi, November 1 - 12, 2006:

• THE DEAD GIRL (USA) Director: Karen Moncrieff (World Premiere)
• THE HISTORY BOYS (UK) Director: Nicholas Hytner (North American Premiere)
• AIR GUITAR NATION (USA) Director: Alexandra Lipsitz
• BUG (USA) Director: William Friedkin
• COME EARLY MORNING (USA) Director: Joey Lauren Adams
• LIES AND ALIBIS (USA) Directors: Matt Checkowski, Kurt Mattilla
• MY NAME IS JACKIE BEAT (USA) Director: Randolph Mark Viverito
• TV JUNKIE (USA) Directors: Michael Cain, Matt Radecki
• VENUS (UK) Director: Roger Michell

AFI FEST 2006 Opens with BOBBY

BOBBY is the Opening Night Gala presentation for AFI FEST presented by Audi, November 1 - 12, 2006.

The film's US premiere is AFI FEST Opening Night, Wednesday, November 1, 2006 at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

Written and directed by Emilio Estevez, BOBBY revisits the night Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles in 1968.

The film's ensemble cast includes Harry Belafonte, Joy Bryant, Nick Cannon, Emilio Estevez, Laurence Fishburne, Brian Geraghty, Heather Graham, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt, Joshua Jackson, David Krumholtz, Ashton Kutcher, Shia LaBeouf, Lindsay Lohan, William H. Macy, Svetlana Metkina, Demi Moore, Freddy Rodriguez, Martin Sheen, Christian Slater, Sharon Stone, Jacob Vargas, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Elijah Wood.

AFI FEST 2006 Announces First Round of World Premieres: 13 Films

The following thirteen films mark their World Premieres at AFI FEST presented by Audi, November 1 - 12, 2006.

• AFTER (USA) Director: David Cunningham
• BACK HOME (USA/Rwanda) Director: J.B. Rutagarama
• BEAUTIFUL OHIO (USA) Director: Chad Lowe
• BIG DREAMS LITTLE TOKYO (USA) Director: David Boyle
• BROKEN (USA) Director: Alan White
• COMIC EVANGELISTS (USA/Canada) Director: Daniel Jones, Dann Sytsma
• FISSURES / ECOUTE LE TEMPS (France) Director: Alanté Kavaïté
• GIRL 27 (USA) Director: David Stenn
• HOLLYWOOD DREAMS (USA) Director: Henry Jaglom
• MEMORIES OF TOMORROW (Japan) Director: Yukihiko Tsutsumi
• MOTHERLAND AFGHANISTAN (USA/Afghanistan) Director: Sedika Mojadidi
• NO SWEAT (USA) Director: Arnie Williams
• SCREAMERS (UK) Director: Carla Garapedian

AFI PROJECT: 20/20 Launches

AFI PROJECT: 20/20 is a new international effort to enhance cultural exchange and collaboration among filmmakers.

Up to 20 American and international filmmakers - all screening films at AFI FEST 2006 presented by Audi, November 1 - 12 - will participate in worldwide meetings, film festivals, and other professional and cultural exchanges. AFI FEST is the first stop on an international tour of universities, film archives, libraries and other institutions.

AFI PROJECT: 20/20 brings together the American Film Institute, the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH), the Department of State, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services in support of this effort.

American Film Market and AFI FEST Now Largest Film Industry Event in North America

Since forming a strategic partnership in 2004, the American Film Market and AFI FEST presented by Audi have become the largest gathering of film industry professionals in North America. Organizers predict that turnout for this year will easily top the 2005 attendance of more than 9,000 individuals, from 70 countries, working in all facets of the motion picture industry. The AFM is November 1-8, 2006 in Santa Monica. AFI FEST is November 1-12, 2006 in Hollywood.