The Circuit

The AFI Dallas Film Festival has made 15 initial picks for its lineup.  They'll world premiere Jeffrey Goodman's "The Last Lullaby," starring Tom Sizemore as a retired hit man.  US premieres include two music docs: Scott Hicks' doc on composer Philip Glass, "Glass: A Portrait Of Philip In Twelve Parts" and Michael Albright's music doc "Sonic Youth: Sleeping Nights Awake."

From their press release, other films are:

BATTLE IN SEATTLE (U.S.A.)
Director: Stuart Townsend
Cast: Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson, Ray Liotta, Michelle Rodriguez
Activists arrive in Seattle, Washington en masse to protest a meeting of the World Trade Organization. Riots and chaos ensue as demonstrators successfully stop the WTO meetings.

CIRCUS ROSAIRE (U.S.A.)
Director: Robyn Bliley
Documentary follows the story of the Rosaire family, a 9th generation family of circus performers known for their unique and respectful manner of performing with animals, as they struggle to maintain their family heritage and adapt to the modern world of entertainment.

JUMP (U.S.A.)
Director: Helen Hood Scheer
Documentary follows kids in jump roping competitions, progressing from state competitions to the Jump Rope nationals and the world championships.

THE LIFE BEFORE HER EYES (U.S.A.)
Director: Vadim Perelman
Cast: Uma Thurman, Evan Rachel Wood
Based on the best-selling novel by Laura Kasischke, the dramatic thriller is about a suburban wife and mother (played by Uma Thurman) who begins to question what on the surface is a perfect life on the anniversary of a tragic high school shooting that killed her best friend. The film also stars Evan Rachel Wood.

MONGOL (Kazakhstan)
Director: Sergei Bodrov
Film recounts the early life of Genghis Khan and the barbaric tribal struggles including his enslavement which ultimately formed the man who would go on to conquer half the world including Russia in 1206.

PUBLIC ENEMY: WELCOME TO THE TERRORDOME (U.S.A.)
Director: Robert Patton-Spruill
Documentary takes a look at the 20 year history of the influential hip hop group, Public Enemy and their impact musically, socially and politically, as well as giving rare insight into the personalities that make up the group. 

STUCK (U.S.A.)
Director: Stuart Gordon
Cast: Mena Suvari, Stephen Rea
Film pits a hit & run driver with her relentlessly surviving victim in a disturbing and provocative study of the loss and gain of humanity through an unfortunate and shocking incident.

THEN SHE FOUND ME (U.S.A.)
Director: Helen Hunt
Cast: Helen Hunt, Matthew Broderick, Colin Firth, Bette Midler
Film follows a New York schoolteacher as she hits a midlife crisis when, in quick succession, her husband leaves, her adoptive mother dies and her real one, an eccentric talk show host, materializes and turns her life upside down as she begins a courtship with the father of one of her students.

THE TRACEY FRAGMENTS (Canada)
Director: Bruce McDonald
Cast: Ellen Page
Film features a startling and innovative visual design, with Ellen Page starring as a teenager and social outcast wandering the streets of Winnipeg searching for her lost younger brother.

TRIANGLE (Germany/Hong Kong/Finland)
Directors: Ringo Lam, Johnny To, Hark Tsui
Film’s story is told in three 30-minute segments (by three directors), as three friends seek out the buried treasure of a mysterious stranger.

AFI DALLAS 2008 will run March 27 – April 6, 2008.