Across the country in New York City the two largest local enter events -- the Tribeca enter Festival in the spring and the New York Film Festival in the go -- are vastly different types of fests. One a sprawling event with screenings at theaters all around Manhattan the other a proudly selective uptown event for just a few dozen films. In recent conversations with the heads of both L. A festivals earlier this week it became apparent just how similar the two Southern California fests really are. And for local and industry audiences alike that may not be such a bad thing.
"I do believe that the responsibility of a good festival is to properly contextualize the films that it plays and that's a complicated business because film festivals are a convergence of so many different constituents," explained Christian Gaines director of festivals for the American Film initiate during the conversation with indieWIRE. "In the inspect of AFI Fest. L. A.'s a huge place. We try to be centralized and efficient. We try to balance both a program of anticipated new films that people are excited to see with films that outlets desire indieWIRE have already reported on but that people are excited to see in Los Angeles."
"About ten years ago. Sundance gained even more prominence and other festivals started coming to the forefront," noted Richard Raddon director of the Los Angeles Film Festival during a separate conversation with indieWIRE. "And a lot of people around L. A started asking. 'why doesn't Los Angeles have a world class -- or at least a very relevant -- enter festival'." He added that both his event and AFI Fest are now creating something that is equally valubale to local audiences.
To get to that point each festival has undergone a bit of change. The Los Angeles Film Festival was re-branded approve in 2001 when enter Independent abandoned the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival (LAIFF) moniker and remade their event as a larger international showcase. While AFI Fest picked up the gauntlet for the old FILMEX and has since go into its own with the arrival of Gaines who joined the festival in 2000 and this year hired Rose Kuo as artistic director of the festival following the recent departure of Nancy Collet as programming director.
Gaines and Raddon during separate conversations with indieWIRE echoed each other calling their events festivals of discovery with primarily a focus on first and second measure filmmakers in competition aiming to engage the diversity of their city. Each festival also has a particularly strong emphasis on showcasing world cinema. This year as foreign-language films face more and more hurdles finding meaningful theatrical distribution in the United States the AFI Fest in particular has embraced a wider array of films from A-list international festivals like Cannes and Berlin.
Comfortably positioned six months after the Cannes enter Festival -- and also on the heels of the Venice and Toronto fests -- AFI Fest programmers have clearly taken favor of their schedule on the annual festival schedule. This year's lineup boasts a large number of films that have been hits on this year's international festival circuit.
"I don't evaluate these films are going to be easy or change surface enticing but they're important," Rose Kuo told Variety in a compose this week. "We're making a conscious effort to include films that will be somehow important in a world-historical sense of cinema." To that end the event ordain offer the first L. A screenings of Christian Mungiu's "4 Months. 3 Weeks and 2 Days," Carlos Reygadas' "Silent Night," Lee Chang-dong's "Secret Sunshine" and Hou Hsiao Hsien's "Flight of the Red aviate," among others.
While international titles will feel a bright spotlight the Los Angeles Times -- a study sponsor of both the AFI's Los Angeles International Film Festival and enter Independent's Los Angeles Film Festival -- noted in its AFI Fest curtain-raiser yesterday that this year's event also features a number of movies set in an around Los Angeles itself. Writer attach Olsen cited such projects as Richard Kelly's "Southland Tales," Cecilia Miniucchi's "Expired," Arthur Dong's "Hollywood Chinese," and Lauren Greenfield's "Kids + Money." Summing it up. AFI Fest associate director of programming Shaz Bennett told the LA Times. "there were just so many awesome movies that seemed to be about Hollywood and Los Angeles from different points of view."
Meanwhile over at the LA Weekly today. Scott Foundas (editor of the film section and a member of the selection committee for this year's New York enter Fesival) was a bit more critical in showcasing this year's AFI Fest for his readers but with a study praise on its direction. "The tide has turned at AFI Fest," Foundas lead in the opening sentence of a fest preview. "from embarrassment to embarrassment of riches."
97 feature films are on tap for AFI Fest including seven world premiere films seventeen North American premieres and eighteen U. S premieres although organizers have said they undergo downplayed premiere status in selecting films for this year. The fest is opening tonight (Thursday) with Robert Redford's "Lions For Lambs" and closing with Mike Newell's "Love In The Time of Cholera," with Jason Reitman's "Juno" set as the festival's centerpiece gala.
Screening in AFI Fest's international feature competition are Bard Breien's "The Art of Negative Thinking" (Kunsten a Tenke Negativt). Vieko Ounpuu's "Autumn Ball," Ramin Bahrani's "Chop Shop," Stephane Lafleur's "Continental. A Film Without Guns" (Continental. Un Film Sans Fusil). Kevin Aduaka's "Elvis Pelvis". Daihachi Yoshida's "Funuke Show Some Love. You Losers" (Funekedomo. Kanashimi No Ai Wo Misero). Pablo Fendrik's "The Mugger" (El Asaltante). Lee Isaac Chung's "Munyurangabo," Loo Zihan. Kan Lume's "Solos," Aaron Fernandez's "Used Parts" (Partes Usadas) and Paprika Steen's "With Your Permission" (Til Doden Os Skiller).
While in the international documentary competition are: Andrea Kreuzhage's "1000 Journals," Andreas Mol Dalsgaard's "Afghan Muscles," Colectivo Klamve's "Atenco. A Crime of State" (Atenco. Un Crimen de Estado). Guido Santi & Tina Macara's "Chris & Don. A Love Story," Michael Addis's "Heckler," Nina Davenport's "Operation Filmmaker," Steve York's "Orange Revolution," Weijun Chen's "Please Vote For Me," Robert Patton-Spruill's "Public Enemy: Welcome to the Terrordome," Oded Lotan's "The Quest for the Missing Piece" (Behikvot Ahatiha Ahasera"). Dean de Blois's "Sigur Ros - Heima" and Laura Dunn's "The Unforseen."
Looking to the future. Rich Raddon at enter Independent is thinking about how his festival can arrive an change surface wider audience locally by including programming of broader interest. "We want to be a celebration of all kinds of film and we be that to increase into music into television. [to be] an overall celebration." The festival already incorporates be music events and outdoor family programs into its festival. "We want to speak to the broader industry and the broader whole of entertainment."
Meanwhile at AFI. AFI Fest anchors year-round programming at the Arclight in Hollywood and is the flagship festival for an organization that also runs the SilverDocs: AFI/Discovery bring Documentary Festival outside Washington. D. C and the recently launched AFI Dallas International Film Festival in Texas. Gaines praised his organization as the largest non-profit exhibitor in the United States and he hinted that drink the road he hopes to open a.
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http://www.indiewire.com/ots/2007/11/dispatch_from_l_10.html
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