AFI FEST 2008 PRESENTED BY AUDI ANNOUNCES

AFI FEST 2008 PRESENTED BY AUDI ANNOUNCES

FOURTEEN TITLES IN OFFICIAL SELECTIONS

FILMS INCLUDE ONE WORLD, THREE NORTH

AMERICAN PREMIERES

AFI FEST 2008 presented by Audi: AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival announces 14 films that will screen at this year’s Festival (October 30-November 9) including the World Premiere of the documentary, PLAYING COLUMBINE, as well as the North American Premieres of THE DESERT WITHIN, GOGOL BORDELLO NON-STOP and LAKE TAHOE. Danny Ledonne’s PLAYING COLUMBINE takes a look at the history and controversy created by the video game “Super Columbine Massacre RPG!” from its creation through the 2006 shooting at Dawson College in which the game was singled out by the media as an influence on the shooter. The game's removal from the Slamdance 2007 Guerrilla Gamemaker Competition resulted in half of the competition’s entries, as well as a sponsor, pulling out of the festival in protest. The screening will mark the highly anticipated film’s World Premiere.

Making their North American Premieres at AFI FEST this year are two Mexican

films, THE DESERT WITHIN and LAKE TAHOE. Directed by Rodrigo Pla, THE

DESERT WITHIN is a drama which follows the downward spiral (and resulting

influence on his children) of a father convinced that he has received a vision from

God telling him that he must take his family to the desert to build a church and

forge a new life. Fernando Eimbcke’s LAKE TAHOE is a minimalist comic-drama

about a young man who meets a handful of bizarre and off beat characters in a

Yucatan one-horse town as he seeks replacement parts for the car he just

crashed.

Also making its North American Premiere will be Margarita Jimeno’s GOGOL

BORDELLO NON-STOP. The documentary is a behind-the-scenes look at the

gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello and their charismatic leader and front man,

Eugene Hütz.

AFI FEST also announces 10 films currently playing at the Toronto International

Film Festival that will screen for Los Angeles audiences for the first time at AFI

FEST this fall.

“These films represent remarkably unique views of our world from newer artists

like Matteo Garrone, Ari Folman, Kelly Reichardt and Lisandro Alonso to the

more established voices such as Arnaud Desplechin and Paul Schrader. They

are films that have either already been celebrated and talked about at film

festivals, internationally, or are sure to inspire enthusiastic discussion and debate

at ours,” said Rose Kuo, AFI FEST Artistic Director.

Those films include:

ADAM RESURRECTED (Germany/Israel/USA)

Director: Paul Schrader

Based on the novel by Yoram Kaniuk, the film by AFI alum Schrader (D ‘69) is

about a former circus clown who was spared the gas chamber so that he might

entertain thousands of Jews as they marched to their deaths. Years later, he

becomes the ringleader at an asylum in the Negev desert populated solely by

Holocaust survivors. The film stars Jeff Goldblum and Willem Dafoe.

A CHRISTMAS TALE (Un conte de Noël) (France)

Director: Arnaud Desplechin

A drama focusing on a tense Christmas reunion of a family fractured by a past

tragedy and forced to reconcile despite their dysfunction due to the onset of

another crisis. The film stars Mathieu Almaric and Catherine Deneuve.

GOMORRAH (Italy)

Director: Matteo Garrone

Based on Roberto Saviano’s expose’ of Italy’s Neapolitan Camorra crime

organization, the film traces the day-to-day lives of various people touched by the

syndicate and the ever-simmering betrayal, violence and often tragic results of its

influence.

THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD (South Korea)

Director: Kim Jee Woon

Set in the 30s, the film is a reinvention of the Spaghetti western, featuring three

men embodying the title descriptions who each meet on a train in the middle of

the lawless Manchurian desert and face off against each other - as well as the

Japanese army and hordes of bandits.

LION’S DEN (Argentina/South Korea/Brazil)

Director: Pablo Trapero

The film is a profile of a woman jailed for a murder she may or may not have

committed, who discovers she is pregnant and now must raise her child behind

bars.

LIVERPOOL (Argentina/France/The Netherlands/Germany/Spain)

Director: Lisandro Alonso

The film follows the journey of an alcoholic ship worker who takes leave of his job

to make an unwelcome return to his small hometown and visit his dying mother

and developmentally challenged daughter.

SHAKESPEARE AND VICTOR HUGO’S INTIMACIES (Mexico)

Director: Yulene Olaizola

This documentary uses the recollections of the director’s grandmother to explore

her relationship with a former lodger and his possible connection to a series of

murders in Mexico City.

SKIN (UK/South Africa)

Director: Anthony Fabian

Set in 1955 and based on a true story, the film looks at the social and personal

impact on two white Afikaner parents and their daughter in rural South Africa,

after the girl is born with dark skin. The film stars Sophie Okonedo, Sam Neill and

Alice Krige.

WALTZ WITH BASHIR (Israel/Germany/France)

Director: Ari Folman

The animated documentary investigates the involvement of an Israeli army

brigade in the wholesale slaughter of a Lebanese refugee camp by Christian

Phalangist militiamen.

WENDY AND LUCY (USA)

Director: Kelly Reichardt

Michelle Williams stars as a young woman, broke and out of options, who sets

out on a dramatic journey to find a better life with her dog. The cast also includes

Will Patton, Larry Fessenden, and Will Oldham.

AFI FEST 2008 will run October 30-November 9, 2008. Passes went on sale

September 2 and individual film and event tickets go on sale to the public on

October 10. To order passes and tickets and to get more information, visit