Alternative Film Guide

The AFI FEST 2006, which takes off tonight at the Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, will screen Emilio Estevez’s Bobby as its opening-night gala presentation.

From the AFI press release:

AFI FEST 2006 presented by Audi: AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival announces that Emilio Estevez’s Bobby has been chosen as the Festival’s Opening Night Gala presentation. Written and directed by Emilio Estevez, Bobby revisits the night Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles in 1968. This presentation will mark the film’s US premiere.

The film features a remarkable ensemble cast including: Harry Belafonte, Joy Bryant, Nick Cannon, Emilio Estevez, Laurence Fishburne, Brian Geraghty, Heather Graham, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt, Joshua Jackson, David Krumholtz, Ashton Kutcher, Shia LaBeouf, Lindsay Lohan, William H. Macy, Svetlana Metkina, Demi Moore, Freddy Rodriguez, Martin Sheen, Christian Slater, Sharon Stone, Jacob Vargas, Mary Elizabeth Winstead
and Elijah Wood. Many from the cast are expected to attend.

With an incredible ensemble cast portraying fictionalized characters from a cross-section of America, Bobby follows 22 disparate individuals whose lives intersect at the hotel as they anticipate Kennedy’s arrival for the presidential primary election night party-an event which would change their lives forever. This historic night is set against the backdrop of the cultural issues gripping the country at the time: racism, sexual inequality and class differences. Bobby is a Bold Films production of a Weinstein Company presentation and is being distributed in theaters by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (MGM).

Bobby will open AFI FEST 2006 on Wednesday, November 1, 2006 at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. A reception will follow at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. The Opening Night Film and Gala are presented by Audi of America with support from the Hollywood Sign Trust.

"We are honored to launch AFI FEST 2006 with the US Premiere of Bobby. This is a film that chronicles a powerful moment in American history—a moment that is also significant in the history of the city of Los Angeles," says Jean Picker Firstenberg, AFI’s President and CEO. "As AFI FEST celebrates its 20th year, we are especially proud to premiere this film here."

"When I began writing Bobby is the summer of 2000, I had a growing frustration with ‘runaway production.’ It seemed that one remedy was to create a piece indigenous to Los Angeles by setting the film at the infamous Ambassador Hotel," said Estevez. "Surely, this grand hotel could never be duplicated north of the border. It is only fitting that the US premiere takes place in Los Angeles. AFI FEST choosing my picture for the opening night is as big of a thrill as a filmmaker could hope for. I am honored to be chosen for this auspicious event."

Thirteen of the films making their World Premieres at AFI FEST 2006 include:
AFTER (USA) Director: David Cunningham
AFTER is a visceral, high energy, adrenaline fueled thriller about urban explorers in the Moscow underground, featuring original music by The Crystal Method.

BACK HOME (USA/Rwanda) Director: J.B. Rutagarama
The first film about the Rwandan genocide made by an actual survivor, BACK HOME is the true story of director J.B. Rutagarama, who was adopted by reporters as he fled the killings. They gave him a new life — and the courage to eventually return to his homeland to confront what happened there.

BEAUTIFUL OHIO (USA) Director: Chad Lowe
Starring William Hurt, Rita Wilson and Julianna Margulies; BEAUTIFUL OHIO is a coming-of-age story of an entire family in the late ’70s.

BIG DREAMS LITTLE TOKYO (USA) Director: David Boyle
BIG DREAMS, LITLLE TOKYO is the story of Boyd, who aspires to succeed in the world of Japanese business but finds himself mostly on the outside looking in. His roommate, Jerome, is a Japanese American who has always felt too American to be Japanese but too Japanese to be American. Together they struggle to find their place in a world where cultural identity is elusive.

BROKEN (USA,) Director: Alan White
Hope (Heather Graham) confronts all the wrong turns she has made in her short life and ultimately ends up facing the biggest wrong turn of all: her dangerous ex-boyfriend Will (Jeremy Sisto), who’s determined to win back her love or die trying.

COMIC EVANGELISTS (USA/Canada) Director: Daniel Jones, Dann Sytsma
In the small town of Kalamazoo, Michigan, the world’s first improv troupe, the Comic Evangelists are on a mission from God. When group co-founder Nigel suggests that the group enter the Toronto International Improv Festival, the group immediately leaps on the opportunity to spread the gospel to a larger audience. But will the group’s faith be enough to get them through this experience?

FISSURES / ECOUTE LE TEMPS (France) Director: Alante Kavaite
After Charlotte’s mother is murdered, she decides to take action. As a sound engineer, she uses her equipment to carry out her own investigation. While listening to a recording just made in the house where the murder took place, Charlotte discovers a strange phenomenon—sounds from the past blend in with sounds from the present.

GIRL 27 (USA) Director: David Stenn Note: This film has been withdrawn from the festival.
In 1937 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the most prestigious and powerful movie studio in the world, tricked 120 underage dancers into attending a stag party for its salesmen. Patricia Douglas was raped trying to escape. Instead of heeding studio advice and staying silent, she went public and filed a landmark lawsuit. The resulting scandal and studio cover-up drove Douglas into hiding. "We had her killed," an MGM executive boasted at the time. Now, 65 years later, Patricia Douglas emerges in this documentary to tell her incredible story.

HOLLYWOOD DREAMS (USA) Director: Henry Jaglom
Set in the City of Angels, featuring engaging performances by David Proval, Karen Black, Zack Norman and Melissa Leo, a young girl fresh off the bus from Iowa (Tanna Frederick) falls in love with a promising young actor (Justin Kirk), complicating her goal of becoming a famous actress.

MEMORIES OF TOMORROW (Japan) Director: Yokihiko Tsutsumi
Suffering from dizziness and headaches, unable to find the words he is looking for or remember people’s names, Saeki (Ken Watanabe) is diagnosed with anearly onset of Alzheimer’s disease. This emotionally touching story depicts and questions, what it is to love and share a life with someone who has lost his memory.

MOTHERLAND AFGHANISTAN (USA/Afghanistan) Director: Sedika Mojadidi
An Afghan-American filmmaker follows her father’s return to Afghanistan to battle one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. Following their travels from Kabul’s Laura Bush Maternity Ward to one of the country’s most isolated rural hospitals in Ghazni province, this documentary gives a rare insider’s view into the lives of the women behind the statistics.

NO SWEAT (USA) Director: Arnie Williams
An all-American tale about an all-American garment—the T-shirt—this documentary takes a wild ride into the Los Angeles garment industry. Mostly undocumented workers at American Apparel and SweatX are offered better wages, benefits, even a shot at worker-ownership. But what’s really behind the label?

SCREAMERS (UK) Director: Carla Garapedian
The film follows the Grammy-award winning rock band System of a Down as they confront the issue of the Armenian genocide in 1915 Turkey and efforts by the Turkish government to deny it. Through the band’s personal campaign to stop all such tragedies, this documentary traces the Armenian genocide’s links to the Holocaust, Rwanda, Bosnia, the Iraqi Kurds and today’s conflict in Darfur. We may say ‘never again’ but we do we mean it?

As previously announced, AFI FEST 2006 will be celebrating 20 years in 2006, with plans to celebrate AFI FEST and 15 years of FILMEX through a series of commemorative events, series and special programs throughout the 11 day festival.

Films at the 2006 American Film Market

American Film Market 2006

Tokyo International Film Festival 2006 Awards

Pusan International Film Festival 2006 Winners

Amateur Erotic Film Competition in San Francisco

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