The Circuit

As we read through yet another AFI list, this time called "Moments of Significance," we were struck by how insignifcant these endless lists have become.

The 100 Best Movies list was created by advertising guru and AFI Dallas fest founder Liener Temerlin.  At the time it was a smart move that suddenly gave the venerable American Film Institute airtime on network TV. 

The problem was where to go from there.  During the list's ten years of life, AFI has found a way by picking subjects that were always a bit smaller than the last.  100 Movies gave way to 100 Stars, then 100 Laughs.  Next it shrunk to 100 Thrills, followed by 100 Passions, 100 Heroes and Villains.  Perhaps feeling they were tapped out, they pared it all the way down to 100 Quotes. 

Now it has been whittled to just Significant Moments.  (Tina Fey is one of the "moments.") 

So AFI needs some ideas.  So here's a few:

100 Best Gasps and Guffaws
100 Best Sneezes and Hiccups
100 Best Drapery Scenes
100 Best Crash Cart Hairraisers
100 Best Golden-Hearted Prostitutes
100 Best Credit Rolls

Feel free to contribute your ideas.  We'll collect and pass them on.

Federico Veiroj's coming-of-age drama "Acne" and Kief Davidson's boxing docu "Kassim the Dream" won the AFI FEST's Grand Jury prizes on Sunday at the event's award ceremony. 

Audience awards went to Daniel Stamm's drama "A Necessary Death" while the doc prize was split between "Kassim" and Patrick Davidson's environmentally bent "The World We Want."

Igor Voloshin's Russian drama "Nirvana" and Jan Louter's Eskimo docu "The Last Days of Shishmaref" garnered special mentions.

The ten-day event closes tonight with Edward Zwick's "Defiance."


(From LEFT to RIGHT) Daniel Stamm (DIR: A NECESSARY DEATH), Brian Udovich (PROD: A NECESSARY DEATH) Audience Award winner for Narrative Feature,  Kief Davidson (DIR/PROD: KASSIM THE DREAM) Grand Jury Prize winner and Audience Award co-winner for Documentary Feature, Rose Kuo (Artistic Director), Lane Kneedler (Senior Programmer), Kassim "The Dream" Ouma, Igor Voloshin (DIR: NIRVANA) Special Mention for Narrative Feature, Shaz Bennett (Associate Artistic Director).  Photo provided by AFI FEST.

Another AFI FEST pickup as Strand Releasing gets all U.S. rights to Pablo Trapero's "Lion's Den," Argentina's pick for Oscar consideration.  

Story follows a young, pregnant woman's fight for survival in prison after murdering her lover.  Pic preemed in competition at Cannes and screens Friday at AFI FEST.  Strand will release it next year.

At the "Che"preem Friday, actress Vinessa Shaw, director/screenwriter James Gray and actor Joaquin Phoenix walked the red carpet.  A recently retired Phoenix had a message for the photogs.

Photo by Mark Sullivan/WireImage.com.

MSNBC Films and Submarine Entertainment have finalized a North American television deal for Dana Nachman and Don Hardy's "Witch Hunt," narrated and exec produced by Sean Penn.  "Witch Hunt" will have its U.S. preem at AFI FEST on Sunday.

Docu follows eight parents in Bakersfield, CA who were wrongly convicted of child molestation.

MSNBC Films will air the doc in early 2009 after an Oscar-qualifying run in theaters.

Deal marks the second between Josh Braun's Submarine Entertainment and the newly formed MSNBC Films, the channel's initiative to present and produce long-form docs. 

Braun also negotiated MSNBC's pickup of Kurt Kuenne's docu "Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father."  In that deal, MSNBC assisted with P&A for a theatrical run via Oscilloscope Pictures.  O-Scope opened "Dear Zachary" this weekend in NY and will follow with a November 7th unspooling in LA.

Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, director John Patrick Shanley, Miramax president Daniel Battsek and producer Mark Roybal at last night's AFI FEST 2008 opening night screening of "Doubt."

Describing the pic as still "wet behind the ears," Battsek thanked producer Scott Rudin. "He gave us two decent pictures last year," he shrugged, with more than an ounce of sarcasm.  Helmer Shanley also thanked the "mad player king" Rudin, commenting that this will be the first time he's seen in the film in its final form.

Photo by Eric Charbonneau/WireImage.com.

Paul Schrader's "Adam Resurrected" will be released by Bleiberg Entertainment in New York and Los Angeles.  Founded by "Adam" producer Ehud Bleiberg, the company's DIY effort is intended to highlight star Jeff Goldblum in an Oscar qualifying run.

Based on Yoram Kaniuk's novel, Goldblum plays a gifted, haunted Holocaust survivor at an Israeli rehab center.

Unhappy with the offers he received after the pic's Toronto fest screening, Bleiberg and the film's co-producer, German-based 3L Filmproduktion, have raised significant coin for the Oscar campaign. 

"We are doing a regular campaign.  Ads, DVDs, special screenings.  The same thing everybody else is doing but with our own resources," said Bleiberg. "Why would we screen the film at Telluride and Toronto and release it a year later?"

Bleiberg said they've always believed in Jeff Goldblum's perf in the film, stating he turned down a $3 million investment to replace the thesp.  At the Mill Valley Film Festival, the producer said George Lucas approached him after a screening, encouraging him to release the film for an awards run.

Bleiberg said a release outside of LA and NY would depend on the Oscar prospects.

"Adam Resurrected" preemed at Telluride Film Festival and will unspool at AFI FEST on November 8.

Art film distrib Janus and the Criterion Collection have nabbed North American theatrical and home vid rights to Götz Spielmann's "Revanche," ahead of its AFI FEST unspooling on November 1. 

In an unusual move, Janus will release the pic to theaters in March 2009 followed by a DVD rollout via sister company Criterion.

Spielmann's dramatic thriller preemed at the 2008 Berlin Intl. Film Festival and is Austria's foreign film Oscar entry.

Though well known for its massive classic film library, Janus hasn't released a first-run film in 30 years.  Janus topper Peter Becker saw "Revanche" at the 2008 Telluride film fest and began discussions with Spielmann.

"It was a completely unusual gesture because acquiring first-run films is not something we're going to be doing on an ongoing basis," said Becker. "There are lots of good people out there acquiring movies. This came from a groundswell of support from my staff."

"It's one of the most visually commanding films," he continued. "Speilmann directs with such strength.  I think there will be broad appeal for this film."

Becker said his staff are well positioned to release the new pic through existing relationships with arthouses that rely on Janus for their repertory calendar.  They distribute approximately 10 films a year.

Founded in 1956, U.S. cinephiles know the ubiquitous Janus Films logo as their introduction to such foreign helmers as Ingmar Bergman, François Truffaut, Federico Fellini, and Akira Kurosawa. 

"Revanche" screens at AFI FEST on November 1 and 2.  Screening info here.

Peter Debruge contributed to this story.

Miramax's "Doubt" has been slotted as the new opener for AFI FEST 2008.  An unfinished version of helmer John Patrick Shanley's period drama starring Meryl Streep will replace "The Soloist," which Paramount pulled after moving the pic's release to March 2009.

Paramount's move came eight days before "The Soloist's" world preem at the fest. 

Though "greatly disappointed," AFI FEST artistic director Rose Kuo promised to fill the slot in 24 hours, putting pressure on herself and the staff to find a weighty pic. 

“The movie is still being finished, but we were so excited to show "Doubt" and help our friends at AFI FEST and the American Film Institute at the same time. We couldn’t possibly pass up the opportunity,” said Miramax president Daniel Battsek.

“We are grateful to Miramax Films and producers Scott Rudin and Mark Roybal for providing AFI the honor of premiering this highly anticipated, unfinished version of "Doubt."  There is no doubt that bringing together Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams in concert with the extraordinary talents of writer/director John Patrick Shanley promises an evening that will celebrate the finest in American film," said Kuo.

Paramount's other awards contender, Edward Zwick's "Defiance" starring Daniel Craig will still close the fest.  Other Gala screenings include Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler," and Steven Soderbergh's "Che."

AFI FEST runs October 30 - November 9.

Citing the release date change, "The Soloist" has been pulled as the opening night film for AFI FEST.   It was to unspool October 30.

In a joint statement Paramount Pictures, Dreamworks Pictures and Participant Media said, “Due to the change in THE SOLOIST release date, we unfortunately had to withdraw from the AFI FEST Film Festival. It was an honor to be invited as the Opening Night film and we are very grateful to the festival for their support and understanding. THE SOLOIST filmmakers, DreamWorks, Universal, Participant and Paramount are very proud of this film and we are excited and committed to bring it to the world in March.”

“While we are greatly disappointed that AFI FEST will not have the opportunity to offer the World Premiere of THE SOLOIST, AFI's priority is to honor the artists. We wish to be supportive in any endeavor that will help a film of this quality reach a greater audience,” said AFI FEST Artistic Director Rose Kuo.

AFI FEST said a new opening film will be announced tomorrow.

AFI FEST got a double dose of bad news yesterday when Paramount decided to move "The Soloist" to March 09 and "Defiance" to Jan 09. 

While the "Defiance" move is less of an issue, "The Soloist" was widely expected as an awards contender with its AFI FEST bow as the kickoff.  It effectively robs the fest of valuable awards press.

Fest director Rose Kuo's international selection is well-made this year.  And she still has Danny Boyle's widely hailed "Slumdog Millionaire" and Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler" as a possible awards contenders. 

But the fest's location and dates -- deep within the awards season -- make it a prime place to begin award campaigns in the voter's backyard.  It also points to a deeper issue of why an LA-based fest is so hard to pull off.

To have a Los Angeles film festival is like selling sand in the desert -- the town is so silly with film screenings and film parties that any sort of annual film celebration is met with a shrug.  Even some of the big preems at LA fests feel like studio-funded, red carpet events with the fest taking a backseat. 

While it's easier said than done, an LA film festival should remember what makes a fest unique -- what it selects to unspool and what it doesn't.  An LA fest should serve as just that kind of art gallery.  It should be a taste-maker, but not just indie and foreign pics.  It should also curate the award contenders, too.  In a perfect world it would be fun to wonder why AFI FEST picked "The Soloist" over "Revolutionary Road" as much as it was interesting to ponder why "The Changeling" didn't make the cut for Telluride.  With the latter, you can bet it had little to do with Clint Eastwood's long history with the mountain fest rather than what the programmers thought about the film. 

Perhaps this is pie-in-the-sky.  Celebs bring press, no matter what they happen to be in.  Some events can't afford to be picky.  During this economic dive a fest can't be blamed much for slotting celeb-heavy films if it satisfies the few US sponsors still out there who believe fests provide good exposure.  AFI FEST's presenting sponsor Audi probably loves the attention that Daniel Craig will bring as he walks the carpet to the "Defiance" preem.  They probably won't think too much that their dollars are also providing a screen for the LA preem of "Tokyo Sonata," "Gomorrah," or Kuo's Argentine focus. 

Kuo is extremely proud of her international films this year, proving sometimes LA aud's need to look a little deeper to find the curator's voice. 

But good luck asking LA to look deeper.

Joel Hopkins' "Last Chance Harvey" has been added to the AFI FEST 2008 lineup.  The Dustin Hoffman/Emma Thompson romance will unspool as a Centerpiece screening.  Hopkins, Hoffman, and Thompson are expected to attend.

In addition, the fest has slotted five other films.  From their press release:

BOYFRIEND FOR MY WIFE (Argentina)
Director: Juan Taratuto
From the producers of THE SON OF THE BRIDE, LA ANTENA and XXY, the film is a black comedy about ‘El Tenso’ - a man who doesn’t know how to deal with his wife, ‘La Tana.’ Wanting a divorce, El Tenso recruits ‘The Raven Flores’, an old fashioned Latino lothario to seduce her until she falls in love with him so she will divorce El Tenso.

DIM SUM FUNERAL (USA)
Director: Anna Chi
Drama follows the resulting fireworks when a group of estranged Chinese-American siblings reunite after the death of their “Dragon Lady” mother for a traditional Chinese funeral.

PATRIK 1.5 (Sweden)
Director: Ella Lemhagen
A married gay couple relocates to a village to realize their dream of adopting a child. This smart, sensitive, textured and amusing exploration of the rifts in contemporary gay life also explores how our expectations imprison us and separate us from one another.

TOKYO SONATA (Japan)
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Drama follows the effects on a family after the father loses his job, his sons spin into alienation and his wife tries to hold it all together. Kurosawa, the master of Japanese genre turns his sights on a mundane, yet (in his hands) thrilling, disturbing subject: the secret lives of an ordinary Japanese family.

YELLOW SUBMARINE (1968)
Director: George Dunning
Courtesy of Apple Redcords, the animated Beatles classic will be screened in the ArcLight Hollywood Cinerama Dome as AFI FEST celebrates the 40th Anniversary of the film’s release. Parents and their children can all go to “Pepperland” once again as AFI FEST offers another family friendly event.

AFI FEST 2008 has announced its full lineup with honors going to actress Tilda Swinton and helmer Danny Boyle.  Boyle will be feted after a screening of his latest film, "Slumdog Millionaire" while Swinton gets a career achievement honor.

The 22nd edition of the fest will open with the world preem of Joe Wright's "The Soloist" (pictured) and close with Edward Zwick's "Defiance".  In between is a decidedly international selection of fest faves with few world premieres.

Artistic Director Rose Kuo said, “This year’s selection of international films shows a commitment to cinematic innovation and a renewal of a tradition of realism in cinema."

Following that trend, the World Cinema section includes a number of pics with stark themes including Cannes winner "The Class" about the French school system, Matteo Garrone's Italian crime pic "Gomorrah," and Steve McQueen's "Hunger" dramatizing Bobby Sands' hunger strike in an Irish prison. 

The Narrative competition will see Alejandro Tocar's coming-of-ager "Acne" (pictured), Yemil Sefani's family drama "Lake Tahoe," and one of the few world preems in Rafael Monserrate's comedy "Poundcake."  The docu competish has Kief Davidson's boxing doc "Kassim The Dream" and Alexandra Westmeier's "Alone in Four Walls," about the Russian juvie system. 

Helmer Michael Almereyda will preem his experimental pic "Paradise" in the Alt Film program while the Homage to XStream program will unspool Jia Zhangke's "24 City" and Yu Lik-wai's "Plastic City."

Getting special screening slots are Paul Schrader's "Adam Resurrected," Rian Johnson's "The Brothers Bloom," and Kelly Reichardt's "Wendy and Lucy," starring Michelle Williams.


FULL LINEUP

GALAS

THE SOLOIST (World Premiere)
CHE 
THE WRESTLER
DEFIANCE (World Premiere)


SPECIAL SCREENINGS

ADAM RESURRECTED
THE BROTHERS BLOOM
A CHRISTMAS TALE
HOT DOG
IDIOTS AND ANGELS
NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD
SUGAR
TOKYO!
TWO LOVERS
WENDY AND LUCY

SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS

FOOD FIGHT
TRUTH IN 24
THE WORLD WE WANT

WORLD CINEMA

ACHILLES AND THE TORTOISE
AFTERSCHOOL
BIRDSONG
THE CHASER
THE CLASS
DIVIZIONZ
EVERLASTING MOMENTS
FINALLY, LILLIAN AND DAN
GOMORRAH
A GOOD DAY TO BE BLACK & SEXY
THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE WEIRD
HUNGER
I’M GONNA EXPLODE
KISSES
A NECESSARY
O’HORTEN
A QUIET LITTLE MARRIAGE
REVANCHE
SKIN
SUMMER HOURS
THREE BLIND MICE
TWO-LEGGED HORSE
VISIONEEERS
WAITING FOR SANCHO
WALTZ WITH
WELLNESS
WORLD’S APART

ARGENTINE SHOWCASE

BLOOD APPEARS (LA SANGRE BROTA)
HEADLESS WOMAN (LA MUJER SIN CABEZA)
IMAGINADORES
LA VIE DES MORTS
LION’S DEN (LEONERA)
LIVERPOOL
RABIA (LA RABIA)

HOMAGE TO XSTREAM

24 CITY
PERFECT LIFE (WAMMEI SHENHUO)
PLASTIC CITY (DANGKOU)

KAZAKHSTAN SHOWCASE

CHOUGA
NATIVE DANCER
TULPAN

INTERNATIONAL NARRATIVE COMPETITION

3 WOMEN
ACNE
BETTER THINGS
THE DESERT WITHIN
THE HIGHER FORCE
INVOLUNTARY
LAKE TAHOE
NILOOFAR
NIRVANA
POUNDCAKE
PROPER EYES
THE REST OF THE NIGHT

INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION

ALONE IN FOUR WALLS
IMAGINADORES
INTIMACIES OF SHAKESPEARE AND VICTOR HUGO
KASSIM THE DREAM
THE LAST DAYS OF SHISHMAREF
PINDORAMA - THE TRUE STORY OF THE SEVEN DWARVES
UNTIL THE LIGHT TAKES US

DOCUMENTARY SHOWCASE

AGILE, MOBILE, HOSTILE: A YEAR WITH
GOGOL BORDELLO NON-STOP
HI MY NAME IS RYAN
OF ALL THE THINGS
PLAYING COLUMBINE
PRODIGAL SONS
WITCH HUNT

ALT_CINEMA

BEFORE THE FALL
DEADGIRL
GACHI BOY WRESTLING WITH A MEMORY
THE JUCHE IDEA
PARADISE
STILL ORANGUTANS
TIME CRIMES

MILESTONES

THE HUSTLER (1961) (Paul Newman MILESTONE)
MAJOR DUNDEE (1965) (Charlton Heston MILESTONE)
NED KELLY (2003) (Heath Ledger MILESTONE)
ROUTINE PLEASURES (1986) (Manny Farber MILESTONE)
THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY (1999) (Anthony Minghella MILESTONE)
THEY SHOOT HORSES DON’T THEY (1969) (Sydney Pollack MILESTONE)

Two targets for awards season voters have been slotted at AFI FEST -- Darren Aronofsky's "The Wrestler" and Steven Soderbergh's "Che" will unspool as Centerpiece Galas.  Pics will have their West Coast preems November 1 and November 6, respectively, at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

It marks the second visit to AFI FEST for Aronofsky, who preemed "The Fountain" there in 2006. 

The films have spent a lot of time together on the road.  At Cannes, "Che" preemed as "Wrestler" peeked some of its scenes at the Wild Bunch office.  They saw each other in Toronto and New York film fests, and now will meet at AFI FEST -- an adrenaline-fueled wrestler and a communist revolutionary sharing yet more cheap, film fest wine.  Love is in the air.

The fest also announced four additional special screenings: Rian Johnson's con men tale "The Brothers Bloom," Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's baseball pic "Sugar," James Gray's drama "Two Lovers" starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Joaquin Phoenix, and the assemble film "Tokyo!"

AFI FEST 2008 will run October 30 - November 9.

Edward Zwick's WWII story starring Daniel Craig, "Defiance" will world preem as the closing night film of AFI FEST 2008.  Pic will unspool at the Arclight on November 9.

Zwick was a directing fellow at AFI in 1975.  He brought scenes from "Blood Diamond" to fest in 2006.

Here's the trailer:

In an article for Variety's weekly, I tackle the glut of film festivals:

At the fourth annual Intl. Film Festival Summit in Las Vegas last week, fest honchos huddled together in panel sessions with names like "Creating a Sustainable Festival," showing a sense of camaraderie, friendliness and mutual support.

But then, most attendees there were new to the game. Among veteran fest programmers and execs, it's more a case of strong rivalries, poaching and a secret desire that their compatriots would disappear in a puff of smoke.

Competition among film fests has always been sharp, but it's become cutthroat as fests proliferate, with literally thousands of them vying for world premieres, stars and, crucially, sponsors. If the films are good, it's almost a bonus.

The piece also touches on a growing controversy amoung fest execs - rising distributor and sales agents fees. 

Full piece here.

Films about life in war's shadow swept the AFI FEST jury awards on Sunday.  The fest announced that Lee Isaac Chung's tale of Rwandan genocide, "Munyurangabo," has won the Grand Jury Prize.  Andreas Mol Dalsgaard's post-war bodybuilding doc, "Afghan Muscles," and Nina Davenport's Iraq war-set "Operation Filmmaker" both won the doc award.  The three winners will each get $5000 of Kodak film stock and film budgeting software.  Audience awards went to Julian Schnabel's "The Diving Bell And The Butterfly" and "Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story," Jeffrey Schwarz' ode to the legendary horror film showman.

Before the closing night screening of Mike Newell's "Love in the Time of Cholera," AFI FEST Artistic Director Rose Kuo remarked "the members of our jury had a particularly difficult time singling out one film."  The feature jury included director Agnieszka Holland, writer John Ridley, "Lust, Caution" actress Joan Chen, "Life Without Me" director Isabel Coixet, and screenwriter Henry Bean.  "The Nines" d.p. Nancy Schreiber and doc filmmakers Kirby Dick and Doug Pray judged the nonfiction section.


Pictured: Shaz Bennett (Associate Director of Programming), Lund, Schwarz, Dalsgaard, Lane Kneedler (Senior Programmer), Nash Edgerton (winner of the narrative shorts jury prize for "Spider"), Natalie Mcmenemy (Documentary Programmer), Lauren Greenfield (winner of the doc shorts jury prize for "Kids + Money", and Rose Kuo (Artistic Director)

Everywhere you turned at AFI FEST, Superman was there - drinking Merlot, posing for pictures, passing out a business card emblazoned with an S (slow crime week).  He also pissed off many a fanboy by donning a tool belt. To quote: “Superman doesn’t need Batman’s trinkets!  Idiot!”

When I took this picture I had no idea why producer and dp Charles Gruet (right of Superman) asked this skinny Batman to step away.  The doc he produced, “Confessions of a Superhero,” stars Superman (Christopher Dennis), The Hulk (Joe McQueen, not in costume) as well as a Wonder Woman and Batman talking about their lives as unofficial tourist attractions outside the Chinese Mann Theater. 

But this Batman isn't the one featured in the movie, I was told.  (So I used this photo instead.)  But I was confused.  Were there two Batmans working the same sidewalk?  Was this a stand-in for the other stand-in Batman?  In fact, the Batman in the movie didn't make the Q&A either.  Where was the real faux Batman?

As the doc illustrates, each actor the filmmakers followed seemed to adopt their superhero’s traits.  It turns out Superman is a kind, standup guy.  He shows the ropes to other street performers, he doesn’t lose his cool, he’s loving and devoted to his girlfriend.

The Hulk leads an unrecognizable dual life.  He was homeless for years until he started making money by being green.  The full-body outfit, though, is a curse that he’s dying to get rid of.  Especially in the LA summer heat when he passes out from exhaustion. 

And Batman has a big anger problem, especially with non-tipping tourists.  After a run-in caught on tape, a restraining order keeps him out of this zip code and thus away from this film festival.

Check out the trailer:

   

Described as a "modern day message in a bottle," San Fran artist "Someguy" sent 1000 journals into the world, leaving them in public places or simply handing them out. 

As they started to trickle back to him, doc filmmaker Andrea Kreuzhage started filming.  Her finished film, "1000 Journals" had its last screening on Monday, as the Arclight bookstore sold Someguy's book downstairs - select pages from the journals he got back plastered with art, photos, and ramblings.  Pictured, Someguy (right) with the project's dp, Ralph Kaechele in front of the display.

Below, Someguy with some of the "journalists" at the film's premiere:

Every inch of space inside the AFM's main hub at the Loews is sold, so it's no surprise the ambitious Dubai Film Festival would try to carve out some promo space somewhere.  Their answer?  Variety's Patrick Frater pointed out the scorched, desert city is giving away its second most precious asset - water.


Across town, AFI FEST filmmakers were given their stuff in cool bag made from festival trash - years of obsolete, old light pole banners.  A company called RetroActif took the banners out of the warehouse, scrubbed them, and sewed them up with padding - finally making a festival bag that you aren't embarrassed to carry.  The signage on the surface is refreshingly restrained, too.


The camera line at the AFI FEST Village.  "4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days" filmmaker Cristian Mungiu answers questions.  Like "Juno," his film has also had a great festival run.  Screenings here were sold out.


AFI FEST's Filmmmakers Lounge, as the crowd watches silent short films with a DJ accompaniment. Glowing in the center, the Rabbi reports.  (aka Mark Rabinowitz, festival fixture).

Charles Gruet (middle), producer of the doc "Confessions of a Superhero," with Christopher "Superman" Dennis and Joe "The Hulk" McQueen.  Photo evidence that Superman does sweat and The Hulk isn't all that angry or all that green.


SXSW's Matt Dentler goes through the catalog with a red pen.


AFI FEST director Christian Gaines with Alex Holdridge, director of "In Search of the Midnight Kiss" at the festival's opening night party.

Tomorrow night’s big AFI FEST opening, Redford’s “Lions for Lambs” and the swank afterparty, may be overshadowed by events east.  All industry eyes will be on the LA Convention Center - the site of a historic WGA meeting where thousands of writers will be told to either stay on the job or strike.  Their contract will have expired hours earlier.

The "Lambs" screening starts at 7:30pm.  The meeting starts at 7pm.  If the audience hasn’t been checking their blackberries throughout the film, they’ll be a mad dash out at 10pm, to see what the word from downtown is.  The small-talk at the party has already been set.

As a guild member and "Lions" ticket holder, in many ways the choice is about which war I want to step into on Thursday.  The ill-conceived, disastrous war in the Middle East that serves Redford’s plot, or the long-planned for, highly organized, and (as John Ridley writes here), "ill-conceived, potentially disastrous war" in the industry. 

[Edited to add:  That's Ridley's opinion. Not mine, but not one to be dismissed.]

Ironic that the choice comes down to scripted or reality. 

Several writers I know are scrambling for babysitters, reading developments hourly, yapping on ichat.  There is hardly a sense of dread.  In fact, it's guarded excitement.  All the melodrama and bad behavior of the past few weeks... you just can't make that stuff up.  And to crescendo on a particular day, at a particular hour and place colors it an unmissable season finale, an edge-of-the-seat third act, a Norma Rae moment.  Perhaps making light of this day is a defense unique to writers.  Perhaps it's too much to comprehend the devastating, rippling effects Friday could bring. 

For this writer, "Lions" didn't stand a chance.  Even if I wasn't WGA, I'd be one of the many aisle-seated bodies in the audience, front-lit by a PDA, waiting for word. 

AFI and the U.S. Department of State, among others, have announced a group of filmmakers participating in this year's AFI Project 20/20, a team charged with infiltrating foreign countries with their indie film propaganda.  Last year a similar exchange group screened their work in Kuwait, South Africa, Israel and Kazakhstan, as well as such international hot-spots as St. Louis, Miami, and Salt Lake City.  

What is the State Department saying with this selection of films?  One need only look at some of the titles to uncover the hidden, right-wing agenda: AFGHAN MUSCLE directed by Andreas Mol Dalsgaard (Denmark); PLEASE VOTE FOR ME directed by Weijun Chen (China); AMERICAN FORK directed by Chris Bowman (USA); and BIG RIG directed by Doug Pray (USA).

Also included are CYRANO FERNANDEZ directed by Alberto Arvelo (Venezuela) and FARO - GODDESS OF THE WATERS directed by Salif Traore (Mali).

Also involved are the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Still dusty AFI Village on top of the Arclight parking garage.  It officially opens on Friday.

One AFI FEST doc I'm anxious to see - "Public Enemy: Welcome to the Terror Dome."  There should be a good doc on hip hop's first huge rap group, something beyond another "Behind the Music."  Let's hope it delivers. AFI's Shaz Bennett detailed the film:

It's a world premiere covering the band from past to present - including footage they just shot in Japan about a month ago. The film charts their cultural significance on the rap world and their continuing impact on music and politics.

What most interested me personally is that the documentary interviews the Beastie Boys, Tom Morello (Audioslave, Rage Against the Machine), Henry Rollins, Talib Kweli and Jonathan Davis of Korn talking about the influence Public Enemy had on them.

Sharon Swart has a short piece on the AFI-AFM relationship.  While execs (and me) grumble about the distance - it takes an hour to get between the two events - fest director Christian Gaines says the link works, and he's got a point:

Last year 56 films shared both an AFI selection slot and an AFM sales company. Of those films, 28 made some kind of deal, says Gaines: "They either were acquired for U.S. distribution or sold international territories or negotiated U.S. remake rights."

This year, fewer films -- 34 -- share both AFI and AFM berths.

Speaking of Gaines, check out his fantastic festival report he wrote for indieWIRE for the Midnight Sun Film Festival.


Photo:  Gaines at 2005's AFM, by Rebecca Sapp/WireImage.com.

Javier Bardem will get Santa Barbara fest's Montecito Award, "created in recognition of a performer who has given a series of classic and standout performances."  Reaching back from his recent turn as the coin-flipping killer Anton Chigurh in "No Country for Old Men," the fest highlighted his roles in "Jamon, jamon," "Live Flesh," and "Before Night Falls," for which he became the first Spaniard to garner and Oscar nom. 

Bardem also stars in Mike Newell's "Love in the Time of Cholera," screening next week at AFI FEST as the closing night film.


Photo: Scott McDermott, Corbis

The LA Times reports that Southern California supermarket Glensons has pulled the AFI FEST guide from its shelves and revised its festival sponsorship after a customer (a single customer, it seems) complained of a particular film catalog picture showing two girls wearing thongs in a changing room.  Adam Rifkin's "Look" is about surveillance saturation.  According to a mass email from the director, it's legal 37 states to put video cameras in public dressing room:

"Yes, the image of two tweens' glutes might be controversial to some, but millions of people unknowingly undressing under surveillance is way more shocking if you ask me.  Who is watching this footage and who is keeping it safe from public distribution? preventing it from being distributed. Who has access to it and for how long?  What safeguards exist to make sure highlights of YOUR ass are not making it onto the most viewed list on YouTube?"

This soapbox email keeps on-topic, making the film suddenly sound like an interesting, important, timely, ACLU-endorsed documentary.   But it's not.  It's a "serious drama" shot entirely from the POV of surveillance cameras, from the screenwriter of "Underdog" and "Small Soldiers" and "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe."  Looking at the "controversial" guide pic from "Look" (above), you can feel the air deflating out of this teapot tempest.  Stupid for Glensons to pull the catalog but it'd be surprising if this garnered much more than a collective "what a shame" just before a collective shrug.

Of the seven world premieres at AFI FEST announced yesterday is a doc on William Castle, one of the great horror movie showmen made famous by installing vibrators under seats, jolting the audience at key moments. 
Check out the "Spine Tingler" trailer:

The doc's director, Jeffrey Schwarz, is currently in post on "Wrangler: Story of an Icon" about adult film star Jack Wrangler whom New Yorkers may remember fondly when he sued the city after his wife tripped on a sidewalk crack.  They cited a loss of sexual relations as one of the damages.

AFI, so far, is looking just like Telluride, which is a good thing.  Nine of the recently announced 15 just played at the mountain fest.  Of the others, two are doc World Premieres and two narrative US Premieres.  Docs are Robert Patton-Spruill’s “Public Enemy: Welcome to the Terrordome,” a history of the hip hop group, and Andrea Kreazhage’s “1000 Journals,” about how someone named “Someguy” who sent out 1000 journals blindly in all directions, and got 25 back with writings and art from people living in 35 countries. 

Feature premieres are Bruce McDonald’s Toronto entry “The Tracy Fragments,” (pictured) about a girl looking for her lost brother and Paprika Steen’s “With Your Permission” about an opera-loving , annoying cafeteria worker.

From the press release, here are the other films:

4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS, 2 DAYS (Romania)
Director: Cristian Mungiu
The Palme d’Or winner at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, the drama follows the
harrowing choices two young women must make when one of them seeks an illegal abortion in 1987 Romania.

THE BAND’S VISIT (Israel)
Director: Eran Kolirin
The film follows a brass band comprised of members of the Egyptian police force as they make the trip to play at the inaugural ceremony of an Israeli arts center only to become lost and stranded along the way.

THE COUNTERFEITERS (Austria/Germany)
Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky
Taking place in 1936, the film details the true story of the largest counterfeiting operation in history, set up by the Nazis which utilized Jewish prisoners who were bankers, printers and professional forgers before their imprisonment.

DEFICIT (Mexico)
Director: Gael Garcia Bernal
Bernal makes his feature film directing debut with the story of a social class war being played out during a party hosted by a privileged young man concerned about his university schooling prospects. 

THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY (USA/France)
Director: Julian Schnabel
Film follows the true-life story of Elle France editor Jean-Dominique Bauby, who, in 1995 at the age of 43, suffered a stroke that paralyzed his entire body except for his left eye. Using that eye, he blinked out his memoir.

FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON (Taiwan/France)
Director: Hao Hsiao-hsien
An overwhelmed mother (played by Juliette Binoche), enlists the aid of a babysitter to help her care for her two children. Soon her little boy and the baby-sitter find they inhabit the same imaginary world, in which they are followed through their adventures by a strange red balloon.

JELLYFISH (Israel/France)
Director: Etgar Keret, Shira Gefen
The winner of the Camera d’Or for Best First Feature, the film features a series of overlapping encounters and intertwining relationships revolving around a couple’s wedding preparations, the effort of an actress to find a caregiver for her aging mother and the arrival of a mysterious child.

JUNO (USA)
Director: Jason Reitman
The film stars Ellen Page as a girl, who, when faced with an unplanned pregnancy makes an unusual and bizarre decision regarding her unborn child. The cast includes Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Michael Cera and Allison Janney.

PERSEPOLIS (France/Iran)
Directors: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Parranoud
An animated feature with voice work by Catherine Deneuve, among others, PERSEPOLIS is the poignant story of a precocious and outspoken young Iranian girl who comes of age during the Islamic Revolution.

THE SAVAGES (USA)
Director: Tamara Jenkins
A drama focusing on a sister and brother (played by Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman) who face the realities of familial responsibility as they begin to care for their ailing father.

SECRET SUNSHINE (Korea)
Director: Lee Chang-dong
The film follows the travails of a woman, played by Jeon Do-yeon (in a performance which gained her the Best Actress award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival) who relocates with her son to the hometown of her husband after he dies tragically in a car accident. Her sense of welcome in the new town quickly leaves after tragedy strikes once again.