OPENING AND CLOSING NIGHT GALAS

AFI FEST 2008 presented by Audi is proud to announce its Opening and Closing Night Galas.

DreamWorks Pictures and Universal Pictures' THE SOLOIST has been selected as the Festival's Opening Night Gala presentation. THE SOLOIST will have its World Premiere when it opens AFI FEST on Thursday, October 30, 2008 at ArcLight Hollywood's Cinerama Dome Theatre. The Opening Night Gala is presented by Audi of America.

AFI FEST has also selected Paramount Vantage's DEFIANCE as the Festival's Closing Night Gala presentation. DEFIANCE will have its World Premiere at the Festival on Sunday, November 9, 2008 at ArcLight Hollywood's Cinerama Dome Theatre. DEFIANCE will be in theaters this December.

THE SOLOIST, produced by DreamWorks and Universal in Association with StudioCanal and Participant Media, is an emotionally inspiring drama about the redemptive power of friendship and music. Journalist Steve Lopez (Oscar nominee Robert Downey Jr.) discovers Nathaniel Anthony Ayers (Oscar winner Jamie Foxx), a former classical music prodigy, playing his violin on the streets of L.A. As Lopez endeavors to help the homeless man find his way back, a unique bond is formed, one that transforms both their lives. THE SOLOIST is directed by Joe Wright (Golden Globe winner for Best Drama and Oscar nominee for Best Picture ATONEMENT). The film is due for release on November 21.

Directed and co-written by AFI alumnus and Vice-Chair AFI Board of Trustees Edward Zwick, DEFIANCE is based on a true story of family, honor, vengeance and salvation in World War II. Managing to escape certain death, three brothers take refuge in the dense woods they have known since childhood. There they begin their desperate battle against the Nazis. At first it is all they can do to stay alive. But gradually, as whispers of their daring spreads, they begin to attract others - men and women, young and old - willing to risk everything for the sake of even a moment's freedom. As a brutal winter descends, they work to create a community, and to keep faith alive when all humanity appeared to be lost. Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Bell star as brothers who turn a primitive struggle to survive into something far more consequential - a way to avenge the deaths of their loved ones by saving thousands of others.

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