AFI Fest 2005
Fest intentions
Nov 1, 2005
How does one keep Los Angeles' longest-running film festival vital? For American Film Institute director of festivals Christian Gaines, who considers "constancy" a personal watchword, change for the sake of change has no place in the equation. When AFI Fest 2005 presented by Audi unspools Nov. 3-13, he wants attendees to feel at home.
Gaines values audience familiarity, and AFI programming director Nancy Collet agrees.
"We don't want to reinvent the festival each year," she says. "People like to know what to expect in terms of how the festival is divided up. We're still looking for the very best films from around the world every year, so that doesn't change."
Through expansion and fine-tuning, though, the AFI Fest continues to redefine itself, in part because of its partnership with Audi ("The brands are very complementary," Gaines says. "They really get what we do") and its strategic alliance with the American Film Market. The latter moved from February to November last year -- creating North America's only film festival/market combination -- and while managed separately, the AFI and AFM have joined forces in marketing, sponsorship and scheduling.
The 15-mile distance between the AFI Fest in Hollywood and AFM in Santa Monica might seem daunting, but Gaines is undeterred. The challenge, he claims, is more one of perception than logistics: With a fleet of more than 50 vehicles and four 24-passenger luxury shuttle buses traveling hourly between the events from 9 a.m.-1 a.m. daily, transportation should go smoothly -- but for industryites accustomed to shuttling between Cannes' annual festival and market or the Berlin International Film Festival and the European Film Market, the AFI Fest/AFM configuration offers a new model that essentially combines the market's daytime commercial activities with the festival's evening-time cultural events.
"It's a different pattern," Gaines says. "We're not saying that you have to go backward and forward between these two events all day long -- we're not expecting that -- (but) if the 7,000 film-industry executives from the 70-odd countries that come to the AFM each year were to come (to the AFI Fest) two or three or four times during the seven-day overlap, then we'd be thrilled."
To that end, the organizations have a cooperative registration program, and attendees of the Nov. 2-9 market can use their AFM badges to ride the shuttles for free or enter the festival's Cinema Lounge and happy hours. In addition, certain AFM exhibitors can opt into the AFI Fest's priority list program.
"We've identified essentially the art-film exhibitors at AFM -- the ones that are predisposed to make the most of an alliance between AFM and AFI Fest -- and we're taking extra-special care of them," Gaines says.
That VIP treatment includes chauffeured transportation, tickets to festival Galas, party-space options and publicity assistance, "so that films that are in both the festival and the market can be on the leading edge of our publicity efforts," Gaines adds.
In addition to the usual complement of AFI titles represented without screening at the market, the events share 27 screened films this year. Those titles include Michael Winterbottom's "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story," Andrew (Wai-keung) Lau and Alan (Siu-fai) Mak's "Initial D," Sebastien Rose's "La Vie avec mon pere" (Life With My Father), Duncan Tucker's "Transamerica" and Andy Garcia's "The Lost City."
Garcia, whose long-in-the-works feature directorial debut is set to unspool as part of the AFI Fest's Special Screenings section, is "eager" for the Los Angeles premiere of "City," which was received enthusiastically in September at the Telluride Film Festival.
"It's not only very special to me but (also) very special to just about everybody who participated in the film," Garcia says of "City," a passion project about his native Havana that is based on the work of writer G. Cabrera Infante. "It is a very personal story that reflects the journey of most of the cast -- if not them directly, then their parents -- so it is a very special thing for all of us. The AFI is an organization that I not only support but also that I respect tremendously. We're honored to be there."
Garcia appreciates the opportunity to expose his film simultaneously to foreign buyers and festivalgoers. Lions Gate Films International, which represented the 2004 AFI Fest title "Innocent Voices" at last year's AFM, is selling "City" at this year's market.
The AFM/AFI Fest alliance allows sales agents to show films to buyers in a public environment, complete with filmmaker question-and-answer sessions that accompany many screenings. (Garcia will attend the festival's "City" screening and expects most of his cast to join him.) Gaines notes the value of providing "a place where industry people can look around and see how an audience is reacting."
Stars like Garcia are not a rarity at the AFI Fest: By taking place at the beginning of awards season, the festival is well-positioned to launch tentpole fare from U.S. studios.
"Our relationships with (studios) have been growing year after year," Collet says.
The festival is teaming with Fox for this year's opening-night Gala "Walk the Line," a James Mangold-directed Johnny Cash biopic starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. The AFI Fest's other planned Gala showcases are the world premiere of Magnolia Pictures' "The World's Fastest Indian," a New Zealand/U.S. co-production starring Anthony Hopkins and helmed by Roger Donaldson; the U.S. premiere of Tommy Lee Jones' feature directorial debut, Sony Pictures Classics' "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada," and the North American premiere of Buena Vista's Lasse Hallstrom-helmed romancer "Casanova," which will close the festival.
The AFI Fest also will amp up its star wattage Nov. 11 with a tribute to Johnny Depp, including a four-title retrospective and an onstage conversation before a world-premiere screening of the Weinstein Co.'s Laurence Dunmore-helmed drama "The Libertine."
Beyond the glitz, though, the festival's core remains its three international competitive sections -- for features, documentaries and shorts by first- and second-time filmmakers -- and its regional showcases: European Showcase, Latin Cinema Series, Asian New Classics, American Directions and Made in Germany.
Although not yet a permanent element of the AFI Fest, Made in Germany -- a joint effort between the AFI and German Films Service + Marketing -- returns for a fourth year with six features. The section kicks off Nov. 4 with Germany's official foreign-language Oscar submission, the World War II drama "Sophie Scholl: The Final Days."
Among 3,084 original submissions, the AFI Fest will screen 129 films from 40 nations, including 16 world premieres, 17 North American premieres and 15 U.S. premieres. The festival does not overlay its structure with annual themes, but Collet notes that movies about children will be very much in evidence this year, including "On the Other Side," directed by Mexico's Gustavo Loza; "Zozo," a Sweden/U.K./Denmark co-production helmed by Sweden's Josef Fares, and "Adios Momo," a world-premiere title directed by Uruguay's Leonardo Ricagni.
Festivalgoers also can see the well-received Cannes 2005 titles "Movies, Aspirin and Vultures," helmed by Brazil's Marcelo Gomes; "Cache," a French film from Austria's Michael Haneke, and "Joyeux Noel," helmed by France's Christian Carion. The latter two films have been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for U.S. distribution.
Balancing old and new festival elements, Gaines remains a firm believer in sticking with what works.
"I'm an empiricist, and I don't like hyperbole, so I don't want to sit here and say: 'We're the Sundance of the Pacific. We're the Cannes of the Antarctic,'" he says. "We just do what we do. We address all of the various constituents -- the audience, the filmmakers, the media and the sponsors and volunteers -- and try to make it as good an experience as possible for each one of those constituents."
Of the programrs and 44 volunteer screeners who help put together each year's AFI Fest, Collet adds, "Everyone cares so much." While she concedes that it is a daunting task, Collet values the AFI Fest's relative smallness and its ability to "handpick" films.
"The idea is really to create a community, to create a village within a city," Gaines says.
As the industry takes a hard look at the moviegoing tradition, Gaines sees "an important place right now for the communal celebration of cinema. People who go to film festivals -- and it's not just the old-timers but also the next generation -- are the ones who are still connected to the storytelling medium that started it all. It's very important for us and festivals in general to make sure that people are connecting to that -- it's very powerful."
Gaines values audience familiarity, and AFI programming director Nancy Collet agrees.
"We don't want to reinvent the festival each year," she says. "People like to know what to expect in terms of how the festival is divided up. We're still looking for the very best films from around the world every year, so that doesn't change."
Through expansion and fine-tuning, though, the AFI Fest continues to redefine itself, in part because of its partnership with Audi ("The brands are very complementary," Gaines says. "They really get what we do") and its strategic alliance with the American Film Market. The latter moved from February to November last year -- creating North America's only film festival/market combination -- and while managed separately, the AFI and AFM have joined forces in marketing, sponsorship and scheduling.
The 15-mile distance between the AFI Fest in Hollywood and AFM in Santa Monica might seem daunting, but Gaines is undeterred. The challenge, he claims, is more one of perception than logistics: With a fleet of more than 50 vehicles and four 24-passenger luxury shuttle buses traveling hourly between the events from 9 a.m.-1 a.m. daily, transportation should go smoothly -- but for industryites accustomed to shuttling between Cannes' annual festival and market or the Berlin International Film Festival and the European Film Market, the AFI Fest/AFM configuration offers a new model that essentially combines the market's daytime commercial activities with the festival's evening-time cultural events.
"It's a different pattern," Gaines says. "We're not saying that you have to go backward and forward between these two events all day long -- we're not expecting that -- (but) if the 7,000 film-industry executives from the 70-odd countries that come to the AFM each year were to come (to the AFI Fest) two or three or four times during the seven-day overlap, then we'd be thrilled."
To that end, the organizations have a cooperative registration program, and attendees of the Nov. 2-9 market can use their AFM badges to ride the shuttles for free or enter the festival's Cinema Lounge and happy hours. In addition, certain AFM exhibitors can opt into the AFI Fest's priority list program.
"We've identified essentially the art-film exhibitors at AFM -- the ones that are predisposed to make the most of an alliance between AFM and AFI Fest -- and we're taking extra-special care of them," Gaines says.
That VIP treatment includes chauffeured transportation, tickets to festival Galas, party-space options and publicity assistance, "so that films that are in both the festival and the market can be on the leading edge of our publicity efforts," Gaines adds.
In addition to the usual complement of AFI titles represented without screening at the market, the events share 27 screened films this year. Those titles include Michael Winterbottom's "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story," Andrew (Wai-keung) Lau and Alan (Siu-fai) Mak's "Initial D," Sebastien Rose's "La Vie avec mon pere" (Life With My Father), Duncan Tucker's "Transamerica" and Andy Garcia's "The Lost City."
Garcia, whose long-in-the-works feature directorial debut is set to unspool as part of the AFI Fest's Special Screenings section, is "eager" for the Los Angeles premiere of "City," which was received enthusiastically in September at the Telluride Film Festival.
"It's not only very special to me but (also) very special to just about everybody who participated in the film," Garcia says of "City," a passion project about his native Havana that is based on the work of writer G. Cabrera Infante. "It is a very personal story that reflects the journey of most of the cast -- if not them directly, then their parents -- so it is a very special thing for all of us. The AFI is an organization that I not only support but also that I respect tremendously. We're honored to be there."
Garcia appreciates the opportunity to expose his film simultaneously to foreign buyers and festivalgoers. Lions Gate Films International, which represented the 2004 AFI Fest title "Innocent Voices" at last year's AFM, is selling "City" at this year's market.
The AFM/AFI Fest alliance allows sales agents to show films to buyers in a public environment, complete with filmmaker question-and-answer sessions that accompany many screenings. (Garcia will attend the festival's "City" screening and expects most of his cast to join him.) Gaines notes the value of providing "a place where industry people can look around and see how an audience is reacting."
Stars like Garcia are not a rarity at the AFI Fest: By taking place at the beginning of awards season, the festival is well-positioned to launch tentpole fare from U.S. studios.
"Our relationships with (studios) have been growing year after year," Collet says.
The festival is teaming with Fox for this year's opening-night Gala "Walk the Line," a James Mangold-directed Johnny Cash biopic starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. The AFI Fest's other planned Gala showcases are the world premiere of Magnolia Pictures' "The World's Fastest Indian," a New Zealand/U.S. co-production starring Anthony Hopkins and helmed by Roger Donaldson; the U.S. premiere of Tommy Lee Jones' feature directorial debut, Sony Pictures Classics' "The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada," and the North American premiere of Buena Vista's Lasse Hallstrom-helmed romancer "Casanova," which will close the festival.
The AFI Fest also will amp up its star wattage Nov. 11 with a tribute to Johnny Depp, including a four-title retrospective and an onstage conversation before a world-premiere screening of the Weinstein Co.'s Laurence Dunmore-helmed drama "The Libertine."
Beyond the glitz, though, the festival's core remains its three international competitive sections -- for features, documentaries and shorts by first- and second-time filmmakers -- and its regional showcases: European Showcase, Latin Cinema Series, Asian New Classics, American Directions and Made in Germany.
Although not yet a permanent element of the AFI Fest, Made in Germany -- a joint effort between the AFI and German Films Service + Marketing -- returns for a fourth year with six features. The section kicks off Nov. 4 with Germany's official foreign-language Oscar submission, the World War II drama "Sophie Scholl: The Final Days."
Among 3,084 original submissions, the AFI Fest will screen 129 films from 40 nations, including 16 world premieres, 17 North American premieres and 15 U.S. premieres. The festival does not overlay its structure with annual themes, but Collet notes that movies about children will be very much in evidence this year, including "On the Other Side," directed by Mexico's Gustavo Loza; "Zozo," a Sweden/U.K./Denmark co-production helmed by Sweden's Josef Fares, and "Adios Momo," a world-premiere title directed by Uruguay's Leonardo Ricagni.
Festivalgoers also can see the well-received Cannes 2005 titles "Movies, Aspirin and Vultures," helmed by Brazil's Marcelo Gomes; "Cache," a French film from Austria's Michael Haneke, and "Joyeux Noel," helmed by France's Christian Carion. The latter two films have been acquired by Sony Pictures Classics for U.S. distribution.
Balancing old and new festival elements, Gaines remains a firm believer in sticking with what works.
"I'm an empiricist, and I don't like hyperbole, so I don't want to sit here and say: 'We're the Sundance of the Pacific. We're the Cannes of the Antarctic,'" he says. "We just do what we do. We address all of the various constituents -- the audience, the filmmakers, the media and the sponsors and volunteers -- and try to make it as good an experience as possible for each one of those constituents."
Of the programrs and 44 volunteer screeners who help put together each year's AFI Fest, Collet adds, "Everyone cares so much." While she concedes that it is a daunting task, Collet values the AFI Fest's relative smallness and its ability to "handpick" films.
"The idea is really to create a community, to create a village within a city," Gaines says.
As the industry takes a hard look at the moviegoing tradition, Gaines sees "an important place right now for the communal celebration of cinema. People who go to film festivals -- and it's not just the old-timers but also the next generation -- are the ones who are still connected to the storytelling medium that started it all. It's very important for us and festivals in general to make sure that people are connecting to that -- it's very powerful."
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