Latest in AFI Fest

AFI Fest on Friday announced the winners of its jury and audience awards, with marquee honors going to Secret of Kells duo Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart’s animated Wolfwalkers, which won the audience award for narrative feature, and 76 Days, the documentary about the first days of the COVID-19 virus in China, taking the…

For at least some of us who lived through the counter-culture/psychedelic era of the late '60s and early '70s, Timothy Leary was one of the most annoying or, at least, equivocal figures of a time that hardly lacked for colorful characters. The most famous utterance of this often articulate, madly attention-seeking…

Right from the opening images of a unrecognizable, long-haired, darkly blond Rachel Brosnahan laying on a lounge chair with oversized dark glasses as we hear Bobbie Gentry’s lilting ’70s song, “I Wouldn’t Be Surprised” play on the soundtrack, I have to admit that tonight’s AFI Fest opener I’m Your Woman had me at…

The woman holds her baby her thief husband says he won’t be home tonight. Later she’s awakened by his partner in crime — “Something happened tonight,” he tells her in a rush — and is set away with a third man. “Is anybody looking?” Jean asks her new caretaker. “Everyone’s looking,” he replies. “And they’re looking for…

AFI Fest said Friday that it has added Regina King’s drama One Night in Miami to its lineup as the Centerpiece Drive-in screening, the only in-person screening at this year’s otherwise virtual edition set for October 15-22. The move comes as the movie, which bowed at this year’s Venice Film Festival, gears up for its…

NewFest is hosting a reading of Ang Lee’s groundbreaking Brokeback Mountain at its New York LGBTQ Film Festival on October 18, employing an all-trans cast for the event that commemorates the film’s 15th anniversary. The cast features Leo Sheng (The L Word) as Ennis, Brian Michael Smith (911: Lone Star) as Jack, Jen…

AFI Fest, taking place online from Oct. 15-22, is honoring Sofia Coppola, Kirby Dick, Rita Moreno and Mira Nair each with an evening of conversation celebrating their careers. "Artists of this caliber are essential players in our global culture," said Bob Gazzale, AFI President & CEO. "To honor each of them – and all…

The 34th annual AFI Fest said Monday that Showtime’s Errol Morris-directed documentary My Psychedelic Love Story will close the festival next month. The movie follows LSD high priest Timothy Leary and how he became a narc in 1974 and abandoned the millions he urged to turn on, tune in and drop out. Was his "perfect…

The 34th Edition of the AFI Fest is set to open with the world premiere of the Amazon original movie I’m Your Woman starring Golden Globe and Emmy winner Rachel Brosnahan. While Los Angeles County theaters aren’t open yet, AFI Fest will take place online between Oct. 15-22. "Now more than ever it is important for film…

Another live festival bites the dust. The American Film Institute announced Tuesday that its annual AFI Fest will go virtual as COVID-19 continues to affect Los Angeles. AFI officials detailed the decision to the Los Angeles Times.  Instead of its September in-person premieres, AFI Fest will feature virtual events in…

AFI Fest said Friday that I Am Not Alone, Garin Hovannisian’s documentary about the 2018 Armenian revolution, won this year’s feature film Audience Award, topping the list of prizes given for the annual festival that wrapped its run last night in Hollywood. The festival also said today that it will hold its 2020…

If it is an awards season, the name Clint Eastwood can’t be too far away. And so it is yet again as another Eastwood movie has just thrown its hat in the ring. Richard Jewell had a rousing AFI Fest premiere Wednesday night at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, as well as a SAG Nominating Committee screening at…