AFI Fest unveils first official selections

Slate includes 'Precious,' 'Bad Lieutenant'

By DAVE MCNARY

'Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans' set for an AFI play date.

'Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire' is among the AFI Fest's first official selections.

The AFI Fest has unveiled its first official selections, a dozen films that include Lee Daniels' "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire," Werner Herzog's "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans" and Bong Joon-ho's "Mother."

The festival will also debut its "See a Film on Us" initiative, with free tickets to all films including a limited number of seats at the "gala" presentations.

Pics will unspool at the Chinese Theater and Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel between Oct. 30 and Nov. 5 and then move to Santa Monica for the final two days of screenings in association with the American Film Market.

The lineup also includes French/Italian co-productions, "A Prophet" and "Vincere"; Claude Chabrol's "Bellamy"; Maren Ade's "Everyone Else"; Michael Hoffman's "The Last Station"; Ken Loach's "Looking for Eric"; Corneliu Porumboiu's "Police, Adjective"; the Red Riding trilogy of films by Julian Jarrold, James Marsh and Anand Tucker; and Harmony Korine's "Trash Humpers."

"These first dozen titles offer a wonderful preview to our lineup, which is a survey of the year's significant films," said festival artistic director Rose Kuo. "They represent a diversity of voices, and we take great pride in being able to bring them to Los Angeles audiences for the first time."