AFI Fest 2012 Announces Seimetz, Cronenberg, Lindholm in Young Americans and New Auteurs Programs

It's less than a month until the kickoff of Los Angeles's AFI Fest 2012 on November 1, and we have the first lineup bulletin for you out today. Announced so far are the Young Americans and New Auteurs sidebars featuring such up-and-coming talents as David Zellner, Sean Baker, Amy Seimitz, Brandon Cronenberg, Tobias Lindholm, and Antonio Campos. Check out the press release:

"This year we've expanded our Young Americans section to accommodate the many great American independent films submitted," said Lane Kneedler, Associate Director of Programming at AFI FEST. "The section features exciting directors and filmmakers like the Zellner brothers and Joe Swanberg who are returning to AFI FEST with new films. It's been extraordinary to see the growth and evolution of this section over the past three years."

"Our New Auteurs competition section is an opportunity for us to highlight some of the strongest filmmaking by first and second time directors this year. These are films that have been garnering acclaim and winning awards at festivals all over the world and are now being showcased together for the first time," said Jacqueline Lyanga, Director of AFI FEST. "Last year this section included Michael Roskam's Oscar®- nominated BULLHEAD and Julia Loktev's THE LONELIEST PLANET. Every year, it's exciting to see the talent that emerges from this showcase of new narrative feature filmmakers."

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

ALL THE LIGHT IN THE SKY: DIR/SCR Joe Swanberg.
APE: DIR/SCR Joel Potrykus.
ELECTRICK CHILDREN: DIR/SCR Rebecca Thomas.
THE INTERNATIONAL SIGN FOR CHOKING: DIR/SCR Zach Weintraub.
KID-THING: DIR/SCR David Zellner.
ONLY THE YOUNG: DIR Jason Tippet, Elizabeth Mims.
PEARBLOSSOM HIGHWAY: DIR Mike Ott. SCR Mike Ott, Atsuko Okatsuka.
SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME: DIR/SCR Robert Byington.
STARLET: DIR Sean Baker. SCR Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch.
SUN DON'T SHINE: DIR/SCR Amy Seimetz.
TCHOUPITOULAS: DIR Turner Ross, Bill Ross.

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

AFTER LUCIA: DIR/SCR Michel Franco. Mexico.
ANTIVIRAL: DIR/SCR Brandon Cronenberg. Canada/USA.
CLIP: DIR/SCR Maja Miloš. Serbia.
EAT SLEEP DIE: DIR/SCR Gabriela Pichler. Sweden.
HERE AND THERE: DIR/SCR Antonio Mendez Esparza. Mexico/Spain/USA.
A HIJACKING: DIR/SCR Tobiaas Lindholm. Denmark.
IN THE FOG: DIR Sergei Loznitsa. Germany/Russia/Belarus/The Netherlands/Latvia.
NOT IN TEL AVIV: DIR/SCR Nony Geffen. Israel.
SIMON KILLER: DIR/SCR Antonio Campos. USA.

We'll have more when the full lineup for AFI Fest is released next week.