AFI Fest 2011 1st Wave includes BULLHEAD, OSLO AUG 31, & Swanberg Spotlight

Hollywood's AFI Fest 2011 has already announced that Clint Eastwood's J. Edgar will open the festival which is to be guest directed by Pedro Almodóvar. Today brings word of the the first wave of announced films in the New Auteurs and Young Americans lineup. The fest also announced a Spotlight on Joe Swanberg which will include screenings of his films Silver Bullets, Art History and the world premiere of The Zone.

Notable titles in the New Auteurs section include Michael Roskam's Fantastic Fest hit Bullhead (Marshy's Review), Australian serial killer drama Snowtown by Justin Kurzel (Alex Koehne's take), Markus Schleinzer's dark pedophile tale Michael (Marshy's thoughts), and the brilliantly human tale of addiction from true auteur Joachim Trier, Oslo, August 31st (which I loved).

The Young Americans section holds some promising talent including SoCal skate punk doc Dragonslayer by Tristan Patterson (review from Kathie Smith) and Alison Bagnall's The Dish & The Spoon starring the first lady of indie cinema Greta Gerwig.

AFI Fest runs from November 3-10 and will again feature free tickets for every screening. Check back for more info soon and see the full list of films below.

NEW AUTEURS SELECTIONS
The New Auteurs section highlights first and second-time feature film directors from around the world.

ATTENBERG: DIR/SCR Athina Rachel Tsangari. Greece.
BONSAI: DIR/SCR Cristián Jiménez. Chile/France/Argentina/Portugal.
BULLHEAD: DIR/SCR Michaël R. Roskam. Belgium.
HANAAN: DIR/SCR Ruslan Pak. Russia/South Korea/Uzbek.
THE LONELIEST PLANET: DIR/SCR Julia Loktev. USA/Germany.
MICHAEL: DIR/SCR Markus Schleinzer. Austria.
OSLO, AUGUST 31: DIR Joachim Trier. SCR Eskil Vogt, Joachim Trier. Norway.
RESTLESS CITY: DIR Andrew Dosunmu. SCR Eugene Gussenhoven. USA.
SNOWTOWN: DIR Justin Kurzel. SCR Justin Kurzel, Shaun Grant. Australia.

YOUNG AMERICANS SELECTIONS
The Young Americans section features work by emerging U.S. filmmakers.

THE COLOR WHEEL: DIR Alex Ross Perry. SCR Alex Ross Perry, Carlen Altman.
THE DISH & THE SPOON: DIR Alison Bagnall. SCR Alison Bagnall, Andrew Lewis.
DRAGONSLAYER: DIR Tristan Patterson. (Documentary)
GREEN: DIR/SCR Sophia Takal.
SPARK OF BEING: DIR Bill Morrison. (Experimental)
WUSS: DIR/SCR Clay Liford.

SPOTLIGHT ON JOE SWANBERG

SILVER BULLETS: DIR/SCR Joe Swanberg.
ART HISTORY: DIR Joe Swanberg. SCR Joe Swanberg, Josephine Decker, Kent Osborne.
THE ZONE: DIR/SCR Joe Swanberg. World Premiere.