AFI FEST State of the Art Tech Showcase Launches November 12 With Anthony Batt Keynote

AFI FEST’s State of the Art Technology Showcase: Innovation and Immersive Storytelling, now in its third year as part of the festival, will feature a selection of 360-degree, VR and immersive short film experiences representing a cross-section of what’s currently possible in this new cinematic medium — and what’s yet to come. The opening keynote…
Black and white film still from CITIZEN KANE. Orson Wells as Charles Foster Kane stands at a podium addressing an audience. Behind him, there is a front of a floor-to-ceiling photo of himself.

The AFI FEST Interview: Peter Bogdanovich on Orson Welles’ CITIZEN KANE

Ranked at the top of AFI's list of the greatest films of all time, Orson Welles' portrait of newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane (a thinly veiled stand-in for William Randolph Hearst) is brilliant, blistering and beautiful. The story moves through the tragedies and triumphs of Kane's life, from a happy childhood in snowy Colorado cut...

The AFI FEST Interview: THE RED TURTLE Director Michaël Dudok de Wit

Japan’s Studio Ghibli has long been the gold standard in animated features, producing revered masterpieces such as GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES (1988), PRINCESS MONONOKE (1997) and SPIRITED AWAY (2001) since its inception in 1985. For Ghibli’s first international co-production, the studio co-founded by legends Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata invited Dutch filmmaker Michaël Dudok de…

AFI FEST: Six Films That Blur the Line Between Documentary and Fiction

AFI FEST 2016 presented by Audi features four documentary features, but at least six more that are impossible to define in these terms: FIRE AT SEA, A DRAGON ARRIVES!, ACTOR MARTINEZ, THE FUTURE PERFECT, FEAR ITSELF and FRAUD. The most basic assurance any live-action film can offer is that for a moment in time, what…

AFI Conservatory Dean to Step Down at the End of the Academic Year

The American Film Institute today announced that Jan Schuette will depart as Dean of the AFI Conservatory at the end of the academic year.  Schuette, who will have led AFI’s prestigious film school for three years, informed AFI this week that he intends to continue his work in academia and also resume his professional work…

The AFI FEST Interview: Tributee Annette Bening, Star of 20TH CENTURY WOMEN

Annette Bening has triumphed on both stage and screen since the 1980s. Early in her career, she scored a Tony® nomination for her Broadway debut in COASTAL DISTURBANCES. She has four Academy Award® nominations to her name, for THE GRIFTERS (1990), AMERICAN BEAUTY (1999), BEING JULIA (2004) and THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT (2010), plus…

The AFI FEST Interview: Tributee Isabelle Huppert, Star of ELLE and THINGS TO COME

French icon Isabelle Huppert’s career spans more than four decades, with no signs of slowing down. From her BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer in THE LACEMAKER (1977), to her César Award for Best Actress in Claude Chabrol’s LA CÉRÉMONIE (1995), to her turns in master works by world auteurs from the early 2000s onward…

The AFI FEST Interview: THE EYES OF MY MOTHER Director Nicolas Pesce

Beautifully lensed in black and white, Nicolas Pesce’s debut feature THE EYES OF MY MOTHER immediately immerses the viewer in its Gothic atmosphere with a jarring act of violence that disrupts the seemingly bucolic life of a Midwestern Portuguese-American family. Francisca, the young daughter of a farmer and his surgeon wife, carries the effects of…

The AFI FEST Interview: DIVINES Director Houda Benyamina

Disenchanted and unimpressed by the parameters of life in the slums of Paris, a fearless and ferocious teenager named Dounia unabashedly dreams of prosperity, not only for herself but also for her charismatic best friend and alcoholic mother. In her audacious pursuit of money, power and respect, she aligns herself with a ruthless gangster who…

PATRIOTS DAY Will Close AFI FEST 2016

AFI FEST 2016 presented by Audi will close with the Special Closing Night Gala Presentation of CBS Films and Lionsgate's PATRIOTS DAY, directed by Peter Berg and starring Academy Award® nominee Mark Wahlberg. The Closing Night Gala will take place on November 17, 2016, at the TCL Chinese Theatre. Watch the film's trailer below. An...

M. Night Shyamalan’s SPLIT Added to AFI FEST 2016

Universal Pictures’ SPLIT — from Academy Award®-nominated director/writer/producer M. Night Shyamalan and Academy Award®-nominated producer Jason Blum — will play as a Special Screening at AFI FEST 2016 presented by Audi. Watch the trailer below. Written and directed by Shyamalan, SPLIT is an original thriller that delves into the mysterious recesses of one man’s fractured,…

AFI FEST 2016 Announces Special Screenings

The Special Screenings section of AFI FEST 2016 presented by Audi includes three World Premieres and four additional highly anticipated films. The World Premiere of the CG-animated film MOANA (DIRS Ron Clements, John Musker) will play in the Special Screenings section, along with BRIGHT LIGHTS: STARRING CARRIE FISHER AND DEBBIE REYNOLDS (DIRS Fisher Stevens, Alexis…
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