Starting tonight and running through November 17 is Hollywood's biggest film festival. Taking place just upstairs from where they give out the Oscars, AFI Fest brings an awesome collection of the year's best world cinema and auteur-driven indies to Los Angeles. This year's program is packed with great films and we've highlighted just a few. We highlighted a few more (namely Toni Erdmann, Old Stone, and Red Turtle) when they played at Denver Film Fest last week. We'll leave those out for now but be sure to check out the AFI Fest website for more info on when those and the films below are playing. And don't forget, all the screenings at AFI Fest are FREE!
Buster's Mal Heart
It's weird, it's wonderful, and it stars one of the biggest "it" guys in the biz. Sarah Adina Smith's second feature is a super oddball trip back to Y2k. Rami Malek is just as good as you hope. Check out our review for more.
Paterson
Jim Jarmusch's latest is the poetic tale of a bus driver in Paterson named Paterson. It stars Adam Driver and is truly a lovely story. Read more in Jason's review.
The Lure
Agnieszka Smoczyńska's wonderfully surreal Polish musical follows two mermaids as they try to fit into society. Alas society is a tough place when you're used to eating humans. Here's Pierce's review for slightly more info.
Live Cargo
Logan Sandler's debut feature is beautifully shot in black and white by cinematographer Daniella Nowitz. It also features great performances, notably by Dree Hemingway and Keith Stanfield. It will be exciting to see what this young talent does next.
Always Shine
Actress Sophia Takal's second feature (after Green) is an exploration of female friendships through two actresses (Mackenzie Davis and Caitlin FitzGerald) on a weekend getaway. The film debuted at Tribeca and Oscilloscope will be bringing it out soon. Here's Chris's review.
Fraud
Dean Fleischer-Camp is perhaps best known for his much-loved short stop-motion animation Marcel the Shell with Shoes On that he made with his close collaborator Jenny Slate. This feature documentary which runs a svelte 52 minutes is an exploration of consumerism and one American family through their YouTube home movies. If nothing else, Mr. Fleischer-Camp has diverse tastes.
Dark Night
Tim Sutton's Sundance Next-premiering film about a theater shooting had our own Ben Umstead absolutely raving in his review. And if Ben's likes it that much, it's definitely worth checking out.