AFI DALLAS Announces Robert Towne and 10 Official Selections
2009 AFI DALLAS International Film Festival
Presented by NorthPark Center, Founding Sponsor Victory Park
Announces
Robert Towne to Receive AFI DALLAS Star Award
Ten Titles in Official Selections
Dallas, TX, February 16, 2009—AFI DALLAS 2009 International Film Festival Presented by NorthPark Center, Founding Sponsor Victory Park announces that Academy Award® winner Robert Towne will be presented with the prestigious AFI DALLAS Star Award in recognition of his career as a filmmaker and screenwriter on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the cinema classic, CHINATOWN.
AFI DALLAS also announces ten films that will screen at this year’s festival. Those films include an Academy Award nominee for Best Documentary Feature (Scott Hamilton Kennedy’s THE GARDEN); and the Jury and Audience winner for Best Documentary at last year’s AFI FEST as well as the SILVERDOCS Award (Kief Davidson’s KASSIM THE DREAM).
Adding to the list of films making their US premiere at AFI DALLAS, will be Topaz Adizes’s AMERICANA and Charles Binamé’s THE AMERICAN TRAP.
Adizes’s AMERICANA is a documentary following the experiences of two young men from a small town in Arizona as they prepare to join the military to fight in Iraq. That preparation involves travel abroad and encounters with people from other countries with varying views on what America means to them, as well as how their close-knit community handles their imminent deployment.
Also making its US premiere will be Binamé’s dramatic thriller, THE AMERICAN TRAP. Set in a world of global intrigue and corruption, the film stars Rémy Girard, Gérard Darmon and Colm Feore in a tension-filled story of a man attempting to uncover the truths behind the JFK assassination.
The first selection in the Environmental Visions Competition, UPSTREAM BATTLE was also announced. Ben Kempas’s documentary chronicles the battle between Native Americans and an energy corporation as they seek to protect the salmon they depend on for their survival. Their struggle may trigger the largest dam removal project in history. The film will vie for the Current Energy Filmmaker Award and the $10,000 unrestricted cash prize that comes with that award.
The first 2009 AFI DALLAS Star Award honoree announced, Towne will be presented with the Festival’s AFI DALLAS Star Awards (the award is designed from Steuben crystal, courtesy of Neiman Marcus) prior to a screening of CHINATOWN, for which he won an Academy Award for his original screenplay in 1974. Towne was also nominated in the same category for SHAMPOO (1975) and for his screenplay adaptations for THE LAST DETAIL (1973) and GREYSTROKE: THE LEGEND OF TARZAN, LORD OF THE APES (1984). The prolific writer’s credits include notable titles such as PERSONAL BEST (1982) which he also directed, TEQUILA SUNRISE (1988), DAYS OF THUNDER (1990), THE FIRM (1993), LOVE AFFAIR (1994), MISSION IMPOSSIBLE (1996), WITHOUT LIMITS (also written and directed – 1998), MISSION IMPOSSIBLE II (2000) and ASK THE DUST (2006). Following the screening of CHINATOWN, Towne will participate in a special Q&A moderated by TIME Magazine’s Richard Schickel.
“It is a thrill to honor an accomplished artist like Robert Towne,” said Michael Cain, AFI DALLAS Artistic Director. “This is someone that had a hand in creating some of the signature films of the 70s—one of the legendary fertile periods in American film history, not to mention the other major films within his body of work. And to have an opportunity to see a classic like CHINATOWN on the big screen and then have one of the architects of that film discuss it afterward? That’s a date you automatically mark on your calendar.”
The ten announced selections include:
AMERICANA (USA)
Director: Topaz Adizes
Documentary follows the experiences of two young men from a small town in Arizona as they complete their last semester of high school and enlist in the Army to join the fight in Iraq.
THE AMERICAN TRAP (Canada)
Director: Charles Binamé
Cast: Rémy Girard, Gérard Darmon, Colm Feore, Joe Cobden, Janet Lane
Thriller set in a world of global intrigue and corruption, as a man attempts to uncover the truths behind the JFK assassination.
EVANGELION 1.0 YOU ARE NOT ALONE (Japan)
Director: Hideaki Anno, Masayuki, Kazuya Tsurumaki
Film is the first in a four-part series adapted and re-imagined from the legendary NEON GENESIS EVANGELION anime series.
THE GARDEN (USA)
Director: Scott Hamilton Kennedy
Documentary traces the events that led to the creation of a 14-acre community garden in South Central Los Angeles and the struggle between the urban farmers, the City of Los Angeles and a powerful developer who sought to evict them and build warehouses on the property.
KASSIM THE DREAM (Uganda/USA)
Director: Kief Davidson
Documentary profiles Kassim ‘The Dream’ Ouma, who survived being a child soldier in Uganda to becoming a champion boxer.
LIKE DANDELION DUST (USA)
Director: Jon Gunn
Cast: Mira Sorvino, Barry Pepper, Cole Hauser
Drama pits a couple versus a parolee father who seeks to take custody of their six-year-old adopted son.
LYMELIFE (USA)
Director: Derick Martini
Cast: Alec Baldwin, Kieran Culkin, Rory Culkin, Jill Hennessy, Timothy Hutton, Cynthia Nixon, Emma Roberts
Drama set in Long Island during the late 1970s, follows the intertwining lives of two families focusing on the teenaged children and their attempts to cope with the times.
RUDO Y CURSI (Mexico)
Director: Carlos Cuarón
Cast: Diego Luna, Gael Garcia Bernal
Drama about the turmoil between two brothers who compete against each other in the world of professional soccer.
TYSON (USA)
Director: James Toback
Documentary takes an unvarnished view of the controversial former heavyweight champion boxer.
UPSTREAM BATTLE (USA)
Director: Ben Kempas
Documentary chronicles the battle between Native Americans and an energy corporation as they seek to protect the salmon they depend on for their survival.
AFI DALLAS 2009 will run March 26 – April 2, 2009. Passes go on sale February 6; tickets go on sale March 2. Passes and tickets will be made available via online (AFIDALLAS.com), phone (214.720.0663) and in person at the Box Office located at the AFI DALLAS locations at NorthPark Center and Victory Park.
About AFI DALLAS International Film Festival
The AFI DALLAS International Film Festival celebrates films and their impact on society, honors filmmakers and recognizes their achievements and contributions in enhancing the creative community, provides educational programs to students to develop better understanding of the role of film in today’s world, and promotes the City of Dallas and its commitment to the art of filmmaking. AFI DALLAS is a presentation of the nonprofit Dallas Film Society.
About NorthPark Center
As one of the premier shopping centers in the United States, NorthPark Center (www.northparkcenter.com) proudly offers shoppers the best of the best in every category represented, including the finest in luxury retail and exclusives in the Southwest. Offering an unparalleled selection of international designers set amid timeless modern architecture and a world-class art collection, NorthPark Center has established a new standard in the United States for innovative retail destinations.
NorthPark Center is owned, managed, operated and leased by husband and wife David J. Haemisegger and Nancy A. Nasher. After a $250 million expansion in 2006, NorthPark Center became the largest shopping center in North Texas and one of the top shopping destinations in the United States. NorthPark Center will continue to open more luxury boutiques, exclusive stores and dining options throughout 2009 and beyond, culminating in more than 235 stores and restaurants.
NorthPark Center is located at the intersection of North Central Expressway and Northwest Highway in the heart of Dallas. Stores are open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday, and 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Department store, theatre, restaurant and spa hours vary.
About Victory Park
Victory Park is Dallas’ most dynamic urban neighborhood—and one of the most significant and innovative urban developments in the United States. The neighborhood is a carefully crafted collection of upscale retail shops, distinctive dining, modern office space, dramatic residential units, the W Dallas Victory hotel and signature entertainment venues, including the American Airlines Center and House of Blues. Victory Park is a development of Hillwood, a Perot Company. For more information on Victory Park, visit http://www.victorypark.com.
Additional Sponsors
In addition to NorthPark Center and Victory Park, AFI DALLAS 2009 major sponsors include American Airlines, Bank of America, Barefoot Wine, Blockbuster, Brierley+Partners, CBS Radio, City of Dallas, Current Energy, The Dallas Morning News, D Magazine, DG FastChannel, Dallas Film Commission, DART, DCVB, e-Rewards Market Research, Entertainment Partners, El Creative, Faulkner Design Group, Jones Day, KERA, MPS Studios Dallas, Neiman Marcus, Post Asylum, Premiere Video, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Pure Evil Music & Sound, Reel FX Entertainment, Screen International, Scott Yung LLP, Sony, The State of Texas, Studio Movie Grill, Target, Temerlin Consulting, Texas Film Commission, TM Advertising, 2929 Entertainment, Texas Association of Film Commissions, TXMPA, vitaminwater10, W Dallas Victory, WFAA, Whole Foods and WRR.
PRESS CONTACT FOR AFI DALLAS
John Wildman
Director, Press and Public Relations
AFI DALLAS Presented by NorthPark Center,
Founding Sponsor Victory Park
Tel: 323.600.3165
Tel: 214.720.0555
Fax: 214.720.0551
jwildman@AFIDALLAS.com
AFI DALLAS – The First Blog
I just got into Dallas on Friday. I was welcomed to Texas just before I got here with a speeding ticket. Which I scored by going 80 in a 70 zone. The cop told me that if I had kept it to 8 MPH over, he would’ve ignored me. They say it’s a game of inches…Two years ago, I got a speeding ticket as I was heading home to L.A. So, I guess we’ll do one every other year now. Tradition.
The last two years I’ve been put up at this great apartment/condo building called South Side of Lamar. Very convenient – both in living style and location. This year, that isn’t available so I’ll be living in the guest house behind the home of David Gravelle, one of the AFI DALLAS Board members. Beyond having been the head of marketing for MCorp, the largest bank holding company in Texas for 11 years, Gravelle has climbed Mounts Rainer and Shuksan. Those are just a couple fun facts. And he is genuinely nice and welcoming. As is his wife and the daughter I met.
To have me stay there goes far beyond the call of duty. Especially, considering this is in a place called Highland Park where people have “Welcome Back Home, George W. and Laura!” signs on their lawns. And I’m the L.A. PR guy – which not only spells depravity, but the promotion of it (in a lot of conservative minds), I’m sure. But, you know, I wear a tie a lot and I’m white and a man so I can pass undetected in their midst fairly decently. Hell, I even did an event for the LAPD’s leading charity last year – talk about your hot bed of “we’re more moral than you”… I just hope David and his wife don’t get in trouble from some community watch group because they’re housing me. Should’ve kept the Dodgers cap at home.
The “guest house” is actually a glorified game room (complete with pool table) with a bathroom and a kitchenette area. I had to buy a microwave and a hot plate so I could prepare a basic meal. It’s made to order for a sleepover for some visiting businessman or dignitary. Not so much for someone in town for 10 weeks. There is also the unnerving plethora of life size Star Wars stand-ups populating the place. Every night, I’ll go to sleep with Darth Vader, Obi Wan Kenobi and Jango Fett standing guard nearby. I told my wife, Justina about this and she said if she ever had any reason to worry about on the road shenanigans that no one would get laid under those conditions. She’s right, there. But it will increase the likelihood that I’ll be that much more focused on the job at hand which is to help ensure that AFI DALLAS takes another step forward in year three of our existence, as opposed to a step back.
And that is a challenge this year. Like all film festivals, we’ve had sponsors bail and we face major budget shortfalls. There is less paid staff, fewer venues, and a couple days shaved off the schedule. The films we’ve lined up so far already are a nice selection, so that looks good. But frankly, the film festival is fighting for the proper kind of attention and support from AFI. Not that that is any surprise. There is a lot going on at AFI. All the time. A conservatory, various awards, events and several other exhibition programs all clamoring for their place at the big people’s Thanksgiving dinner table. And right now, the biggest advocates in L.A. for AFI DALLAS (and AFI FEST for that matter) are Rose Kuo, AFI FEST’s Artistic Director and myself.
Christian Gaines, the former Head of Festivals at AFI had sold me on the possibilities and potential of AFI’s “suite of festivals” (SILVERDOCS included). I bought into it conceptually and I would still love to see that potential realized – as a year-round circuit of film festivals, each with individual personalities and mandates, but collectively – adhering to an exceptional level of filmmaking, pushing forward the ongoing conversation on film, not to mention the careers of the best and most promising filmmakers. Because it would be one of a kind. We’d be leading the pack in the best way. And everyone wants to do that, right?
Or maybe not. Maybe that’s not a big deal. Maybe we’re all good with picking through choices at the multiplex like PAUL BLART: MALL COP (Kevin James? That’s a Number 1 movie? Really? Really?), BRIDE WARS (I’ll say it out loud – Anne Hathaway’s NORBIT), and another freakin’ UNDERWORLD movie (Are those films just like a World Series between Werewoves and Vampires? And, if so – can we just fast forward to Game 7?). Maybe we should just be content to hunker down at home with our Blu-Ray discs and Criterion collections.
No, I’d rather drive my ass to Dallas, recruit as many allies as I can, and keep being the one consistent voice in the AFI room to make sure this thing lives. And lives with style. That’s probably why they forgive the Dodgers cap…
leave a comment