By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

AFI FEST 2012 ANNOUNCES YOUNG AMERICANS AND NEW AUTEURS TITLES

Emerging U.S. and First and Second-Time Global Filmmakers Showcased

CINEPASS EXPRESS Passes on Sale Now

LOS ANGELES, CA, October 3, 2012 – AFI FEST 2012 presented by Audi, a program of the American Film Institute, announced today the films that will be featured in the Young Americans and New Auteurs sections at this year’s festival.

Young Americans features works by emerging U.S. filmmakers and New Auteurs highlights first and second-time feature film directors from around the world. AFI FEST will take place November 1 through 8 in Hollywood, CA at the historic Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, the Chinese 6 Theatres, the Egyptian Theatre and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

“This year we’ve expanded our Young Americans section to accommodate the many great American independent films submitted,” said Lane Kneedler, Associate Director of Programming at AFI FEST. “The section features exciting directors and filmmakers like the Zellner brothers and Joe Swanberg who are returning to AFI FEST with new films. It’s been extraordinary to see the growth and evolution of this section over the past three years.”

The films in the Young Americans section are eligible for an Audience Award while the films in the New Auteurs section are eligible for a Grand Jury Award. This year’s New Auteurs jury features Dana Harris (Indiewire), David Hudson (Fandor), Gregg Kilday (The Hollywood Reporter) and Bérénice Reynaud (Senses of Cinema).

“Our New Auteurs competition section is an opportunity for us to highlight some of the strongest filmmaking by first and second time directors this year. These are films that have been garnering acclaim and winning awards at festivals all over the world and are now being showcased together for the first time,” said Jacqueline Lyanga, Director of AFI FEST. “Last year this section included Michael Roskam’s Oscar®– nominated BULLHEAD and Julia Loktev’s THE LONELIEST PLANET. Every year, it’s exciting to see the talent that emerges from this showcase of new narrative feature filmmakers.”

For the fourth consecutive year, AFI FEST will continue its unprecedented offer of free tickets to all screenings beginning on Thursday, October 25. Festival attendees can avoid rush lines and gain access to all regular screenings without a ticket by purchasing the new Cinepass Express. Cinepass Express holders receive priority entry to all regular screenings, including the Young American and New Auteurs selections, as well as access to the cinema lounge.

The Cinepass Express and other AFI FEST Patron Packages and Passes – which can include access to sold-out galas and other high-demand films and events – are on sale now at AFI.com/AFIFEST. The American Film Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational and cultural organization and Patron Packages and Passes are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.

AFI members will have a 24-hour advance window on Wednesday, October 24 before tickets become available to the general public. In addition, AFI members at the Two Star level and above receive a 10% discount on all Patron Packages and Passes. Information about AFI Membership is available at AFI.com/membership.

Audi is the festival’s presenting sponsor. Additional sponsors include American Airlines, the official airline of AFI; AT&T; Hewlett-Packard (HP); Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel; Levi’s; Stella Artois; New Amsterdam Vodka; The American Film Market (AFM); and The Chinese Theatre, among many others.

The complete festival program will be announced on Thursday, October 11. Media accreditation closes on Friday, October 5. For details on how to apply for media accreditation, please visit AFI.com/AFIFEST/pressaccreditation.
YOUNG AMERICANS SELECTIONS

The Young Americans section features work by emerging U.S. filmmakers.

ALL THE LIGHT IN THE SKY: DIR/SCR Joe Swanberg.
APE: DIR/SCR Joel Potrykus.
ELECTRICK CHILDREN: DIR/SCR Rebecca Thomas.
THE INTERNATIONAL SIGN FOR CHOKING: DIR/SCR Zach Weintraub.
KID-THING: DIR/SCR David Zellner.
ONLY THE YOUNG: DIR Jason Tippet, Elizabeth Mims.
PEARBLOSSOM HIGHWAY: DIR Mike Ott. SCR Mike Ott, Atsuko Okatsuka.
SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME: DIR/SCR Robert Byington.
STARLET: DIR Sean Baker. SCR Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch.
SUN DON’T SHINE: DIR/SCR Amy Seimetz.
TCHOUPITOULAS: DIR Turner Ross, Bill Ross.

NEW AUTEURS SELECTIONS

The New Auteurs section highlights first and second-time feature film directors from around the world.

AFTER LUCIA: DIR/SCR Michel Franco. Mexico.
ANTIVIRAL: DIR/SCR Brandon Cronenberg. Canada/USA.
CLIP: DIR/SCR Maja Miloš. Serbia.
EAT SLEEP DIE: DIR/SCR Gabriela Pichler. Sweden.
HERE AND THERE: DIR/SCR Antonio Mendez Esparza. Mexico/Spain/USA.
A HIJACKING: DIR/SCR Tobiaas Lindholm. Denmark.
IN THE FOG: DIR Sergei Loznitsa. Germany/Russia/Belarus/The Netherlands/Latvia.
NOT IN TEL AVIV: DIR/SCR Nony Geffen. Israel.
SIMON KILLER: DIR/SCR Antonio Campos. USA.

Film stills are available for press use only and can be downloaded at: flickr.com/photos/afifestpublicity/collections.

About the American Film Institute
AFI is America’s promise to preserve the history of the motion picture, to honor the artists and their work and to educate the next generation of storytellers. AFI provides leadership in film, television and digital media and is dedicated to initiatives that engage the past, the present and the future of the moving image arts.

AFI preserves the legacy of America’s film heritage for future generations through the AFI Archive, comprised of rare footage from across the history of the moving image and the AFI Catalog of Feature Films, an authoritative record of American films from 1893 to the present.

AFI honors the artists and their work through a variety of annual programs and special events, including the AFI Life Achievement Award and AFI Awards. Celebrating its 41st year in 2013, the AFI Life Achievement Award has remained the highest honor for a career in film while AFI Awards, the Institute’s almanac for the 21st century, honors the most outstanding motion pictures and television programs of the year. AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies television events and movie reference lists have introduced and reintroduced classic American movies to millions of film lovers. And as the largest nonprofit exhibitor in the United States, AFI offers film enthusiasts a variety of events throughout the year, including AFI Fest presented by Audi, the Institute’s annual year-end celebration of artistic excellence in cinema; AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs, the largest documentary festival in the U.S.; and year-round programming at the AFI Silver Theatre in the Washington, DC area.

AFI educates the next generation of storytellers at its AFI Conservatory, which has been consistently recognized as one of the world’s top film schools, boasting alumni including Darren Aronofsky, Patty Jenkins, Janusz Kamiński, Heidi Levitt, Matthew Libatique, David Lynch, Terrence Malick, Wally Pfister, Robert Richardson, Ed Zwick and so many more. AFI Conservatory offers a two-year Master of Fine Arts degree in six filmmaking disciplines: Cinematography, Directing, Editing, Producing, Production Design and Screenwriting. Aspiring artists learn from the masters in a collaborative, hands-on production environment with an emphasis on storytelling.

For more information about AFI, visit AFI.com or connect with AFI at facebook.com/AmericanFilmInstitute, twitter.com/AmericanFilm and youtube.com/AFI.

About AFI FEST presented by Audi
The American Film Institute’s annual celebration of artistic excellence, AFI FEST presented by Audi brings the audience and the entertainment community together to explore the year in global cinema through the new works of film masters, moving image icons and breakthrough talents, and it is the only film festival of its stature that is free to the public. AFI FEST mixes nightly red carpet galas of Hollywood films with new auteur works from around the world, ensuring that an extraordinary array of foreign filmmaker voices is heard. Launching awards season each year, AFI FEST offers a crucial avenue of exposure to the entertainment community, while providing audiences with the very best of global cinema, right in the center of the movie-making capital of the world.

Celebrating its 26th year as a program of the American Film Institute, the festival has paid tribute to numerous influential filmmakers and artists over the years, including Pedro Almodóvar and David Lynch as Guest Artistic Directors, and has screened scores of films that have produced Oscar® nominations and wins including, most recently, THE ARTIST and A SEPARATION.

AFI FEST 2012 presented by Audi will take place November 1 through 8 in the heart of Hollywood. AFI FEST is the only FIAPF-accredited film festival in the United States, and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognizes AFI FEST as a qualifying festival for the Short Films category for the annual Academy Awards®.

Additional information about AFI FEST is available at AFI.com/AFIFEST. Connect with AFI FEST at facebook.com/AFIFEST, twitter.com/AFIFEST and youtube.com/AFIFEST.

About Audi
Audi of America, Inc. and its U.S. dealers offer a full line of German-engineered luxury vehicles. AUDI AG is among the most successful luxury automotive brands globally. Audi was a top-performing luxury brand in Europe during 2011, and broke all-time company sales records in the U.S. Through 2016, AUDI AG will invest about $17 billion on new products and technologies. Visit audiusa.com or audiusanews.com for more information regarding Audi vehicle and business issues.

About AFM
The business of independent motion picture production and distribution reaches its peak every year at the American Film Market, October 31-November 7, 2012. The global film industry converges in Santa Monica for eight days of deal-making on films in every stage of development and production, as well as screenings, conferences, networking and parties.

With 8,000 industry leaders from more than 70 countries, 700 screenings and the industry’s largest Conference Series, AFM is the pivotal destination for independent filmmakers, directors, financiers, industry executives, producers, talent, writers, the international media and all those who provide services to the motion picture industry. The AFM is produced by the Independent Film & Television Alliance® (IFTA). Visit AmericanFilmMarket.com and IFTA-online.org for more information.

 

 

CONTACTS: 

Shari Mesulam, AFI FEST, 323.856.7871 or festpublicity@AFI.com
ATTACHMENT

AFI FEST 2012 presented by Audi
YOUNG AMERICANS and NEW AUTEURS

YOUNG AMERICANS SELECTIONS

ALL THE LIGHT IN THE SKY: Jane Addams stars as an insomniac actress facing the waning days of her career when her niece pays a visit to her house on stilts overlooking Malibu. DIR/SCR Joe Swanberg. CAST Jane Addams, Sophia Takal, Lawrence Michael Levin, Kent Osborne, Larry Fessenden, Ti West.

APE: Trevor is the poster child for post-adolescent malaise. His sole ambition of being a famous comedian leads him to madness when he makes a deal with the devil. DIR/SCR Joel Potrykus. CAST Gary Bosek, Teri Nelson, Joshua Burge, Benjamin Riley.

ELECTRICK CHILDREN: Rachel is a 15-year-old Mormon girl who finds herself miraculously pregnant after listening to a rock song on a cassette tape. DIR/SCR Rebecca Thomas. CAST Rory Culkin, Julia Garner, Liam Aiken, Billy Zane, Bill Sage, Cynthia Watros, John Patrick Amedori.

THE INTERNATIONAL SIGN FOR CHOKING: When a commissioned filmmaker arrives in Argentina in search of a film subject, he finds the camera turning toward his own aimlessness and discontent. DIR/SCR Zach Weintraub. CAST Zach Weintraub, Sopia Takal, Roger Delahaye, Barbara Cameron, Mariano Blanco, Ximena Brun, Ezequiler Etcheverry.

KID-THING: Annie is a young girl leading a lonely existence in Austin, Texas, whose life takes a fascinating turn when she hears a plea for help coming from the bottom of a well. DIR/SCR David Zellner. CAST Sydney Aguirre, Susan Tyrrell, Nathan Zellner, David Zellner.

ONLY THE YOUNG: Best friends Garrison and Kevin are equally passionate about the gospel, their girlfriends and the half-pipe in this non-fiction look at teenage life in America. DIR Jason Tippet, Elizabeth Mims. CAST Garrison Saenz, Skye Elmore, Kevin Conway, Robin Levy, Kristen Cheriegate.

PEARBLOSSOM HWY: Friends Corey and Anna drift through life – he longs to appear on a reality TV show and she sells sex for money in order to gain her citizenship. DIR Mike Ott. SCR Mike Ott, Atsuko Okatsuka. CAST Atsuko Okatsuka, Cory Zacharia, John Brotherton.

SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME: After Max discovers his wife in bed with another man, he tries to get a grip on his life with the aid of a mysterious suitcase that might just hold back time. DIR/SCR Robert Byington. CAST Keith Poulson, Nick Offerman, Jess Weixler, Kevin Corrigan, Jonathan Togo, Stephanie Hunt, Kate Lyn Sheil, Alex Perry, Marshall Bell.

STARLET: The unlikely friendship between a young, rootless porn actress and a prickly octogenarian results in a combative, yet tender mother-daughter bond. DIR Sean Baker. SCR Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch. CAST Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson, Stella Maeve, James Ransone, Karren Karagulian.

SUN DON’T SHINE:Crystal and her boyfriend Leo embark on a mysterious road trip across the haunting Central Florida landscape, her disturbing past riding close behind. DIR/SCR Amy Seimetz. CAST Kate Lyn Sheil, Kentucker Audley.

TCHOUPITOULAS: This dreamlike documentary from the brothers Ross follows three young boys across the Mississippi into New Orleans’ French Quarter for a kaleidoscopic night of revelry. DIR Turner Ross, Bill Ross.

NEW AUTEURS SELECTIONS

AFTER LUCIA: After arriving in Mexico City, a girl is brutally victimized by bullies and disappears, pursued by her heartbroken father. DIR/SCR Michel Franco. CAST Tessa Ia, Hernan Mendoza, Gonzalo Vega Sisto, Tamara Yazbek Bernal, Francisco Rueda, Paloma Cervantes, Juan Carlos Berruecos, Diego Canales. Mexico.

ANTIVIRAL:When the frantic obsession with celebrity leads to the trafficking of stars’ diseases to their fans, death is sure to be waiting in the wings. DIR/SCR Brandon Cronenberg. CAST Caleb Landry Jones, Sarah Gadon, Douglas Smith, Malcolm McDowell. Canada/USA.

CLIP: Writer/Director Maja Miloš makes her directorial debut with this searing portrait of a rootless Serbian teenager who captures clips of life with her camera phone. DIR/SCR Maja Miloš. CAST Isidora Simijonovic, Vukašin Jasnic, Sanja Mikitišin, Jovo Makisc, Monja Savic. Serbia.

EAT SLEEP DIE: Raša, a Montenegrin-born factory worker, loses her job in rural Sweden, runs a gauntlet of job-seeking disappointment and bureaucracy and defies the odds. DIR/SCR Gabriela Pichler. CAST Nermina Lukac, Milan Dragišic, Peter Fält, Ružica Pichler, Jonathan Lampinen. Sweden.

HERE AND THERE: Winner of the top prize in the Critics Week section of Cannes, Antonio Mendez Esparza’s directorial debut brilliantly captures the complex homecoming of a loving father and a family’s journey to normalcy. DIR/SCR Antonio Mendez Esparza. CAST Pedro de los Santos, Teresa Ramírez Aguirre, Lorena Guadalupe Pantaleón Vázquez, Heidi Laura Solano Espinoza. Mexico/Spain/USA.

A HIJACKING: When Somali pirates seize a Danish cargo ship in the Indian Ocean, high-stakes, life-or-death negotiations commence in this work of fiction inspired by today’s headlines. DIR/SCR Tobiaas Lindholm. CAST Pilou Asbæk, Søren Malling. Denmark.

IN THE FOG: In Nazi-occupied Belarus in 1942, a man and his captors come under fire, forcing all to make radically divergent, but equally harrowing choices. DIR/SCR Segei Loznitsa. CAST Vladimir Svirski, Vlad Abashin, Sergei Kolesov, Vlad Ivanov, Julia Peresild, Nadezhda Markina. Germany/Russia/Belarus/The Netherlands/Latvia.

NOT IN TEL AVIV: A repressed high school teacher loses his job, kidnaps one of his female students, kills his invalid mother and reconnects with a former high school crush. DIR/SCR Nony Geffen. CAST Nony Geffen, Yaara Peltzig, Romi Aboulafia. Israel.

SIMON KILLER: A young college graduate travels to France where he becomes involved with a prostitute. DIR/SCR Antonio Campos. CAST Brady Corbet, Michael Abiteboul, Constance Rousseau, Lila Salet, Solo. USA.

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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon