AFI Fest returns to Hollywood starting Wednesday, October 22. The American Film Institute’s annual film celebration runs through Sunday, October 26, giving Los Angeles public audiences the chance to see the best of this year’s festivals as well as a handful of world premieres, like the Kate Hudson-Hugh Jackman Neil Diamond tribute movie “Song Sung Blue.”
Buzz-building gala screenings include “Christy,” “Jay Kelly,” “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere,” “Nuremberg,” and more. Other acclaimed standouts from the season screening at AFI Fest include “Bugonia,” “The Chronology of Water,” “Is This Thing On?,” “The Testament of Ann Lee,” and “Train Dreams,” with many screenings accompanied by a live talent Q&A. The festival has always made accessibility its key mission, with all screenings now taking place at the TCL Chinese Theatres (OK, so parking at the Hollywood and Highland mall isn’t exactly the picture of accessibility, but show up early!).
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IndieWire polled the AFI Fest programming team for 10 must-see (and in more than a few cases under-the-radar) films for Los Angeles movie audiences to explore this week. From “H Is for Hawk” to “Selena y Los Dinos” and more, check them out below.
The blurbs below come courtesy of the AFI Fest team.
‘H Is for Hawk’Zillah Bowes, courtesy of Plan B Entertainment
“H Is for Hawk”
I’m a bit of a bird nerd, so the hawk part is what first piqued my interest in this adaptation of Helen Macdonald’s award-winning memoir about keeping a goshawk during the grieving process following the loss of her father. What surprised me was how much I responded to this sensitive and artful examination of grief, and how the work of training, caring for, and controlling the bird, seemingly a 24/7 undertaking, works as both a method-to-the-madness therapy and a poetic metaphor. Claire Foy gives a quietly impressive performance, while director Philippa Lowthorpe, whose 2020 film “Misbehaviour” I also quite like, really shows off her directorial vision. —Todd Hitchcock, Director, AFI Fest
October 26, 9:20 p.m., Chinese 6
Josh O’Connor and Lily LaTorre in ‘Rebuilding’
“Rebuilding”
One of the privileges of AFI Fest’s October positioning is the ability to look across the cinematic year — celebrating not only the biggest titles of the fall season but also bringing earlier standouts to the film-loving audiences of Los Angeles. One such title is Max Walker-Silverman’s Sundance-debuted gem “Rebuilding,” a quietly affecting follow-up to his 2022 breakout “A Love Song,” in which a displaced Colorado rancher (a soulful Josh O’Connor, doing an impressive American accent) seeks to rebuild his life — and reconnect with his daughter — following a devastating wildfire. The result is a deeply felt meditation on resilience, the fragile ties between people and place, and the power of community. Intimate, lyrical, and ravishingly shot by Alfonso Herrera Salcedo, “Rebuilding” is one that creeps up on you, culminating in one of the most moving and hopeful scenes of the year. —Abbie Algar, Director, Programming, AFI Fest
October 22, 8:45 p.m., Chinese 6; screening to be followed by a conversation with director and screenwriter Max Walker-Silverman.
“Below the Clouds”
In 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius erupted, burying the city of Pompeii and its residents in layers of lava and ash. Centuries later, the volcano remains an active threat, but life soldiers on in its shadow: Graverobbers dig for ancient artifacts, teachers struggle to connect with their students, and emergency dispatchers field desperate phone calls. Capturing the beauty, anxieties, and quotidian struggles of a community that straddles the past and present, acclaimed documentarian Gianfranco Rosi crafts a sensory experience that deserves to be savored on the big screen with exquisite black and white photography and an experimental soundscape by Oscar-winner Daniel Blumberg. —Josh Gardner, Senior Programmer
October 24, 12:20 p.m., Chinese 5; October 26, 2:00 p.m., Chinese 5; October 26 screening to be followed by a conversation with director, screenwriter, producer, and director of photography Gianfranco Rosi.
‘Selena y Los Dinos’Courtesy of Sundance Institute
“Selena y Los Dinos”
The 1997 Jennifer Lopez-led biopic of Selena Quintanilla was effectively on repeat in my household as a kid, so it would have been hard for me not to appreciate a documentary about the famed Tejana singer with a tragic story. Yet Isabel Castro’s lovingly told portrait of Selena exceeded my expectations because of the skilled filmmaker’s deft utilization of an immense trove of archival footage that achieves as close as possible to the impossible: bringing Selena back to life. Castro’s film is a true celebration of a singular artist that will have you in a stream of tears (bring tissues!) while also singing along to a banger playlist. —Javier Chavez, Programmer
October 23, 6:20 p.m., Chinese 5; screening to be followed by a conversation with director Isabel Castro.
“The Plague”
AFI alum Charlie Polinger’s startling feature debut centers on the cruel rites of a pubescent clique. Set at a water polo camp in the early 2000s, the film follows awkward 12-year-old Ben as he struggles to navigate the camp’s ruthless social hierarchy. His fragile bid for acceptance — and his empathy for an ostracized teammate — spirals into something sinister. With a haunting choral score and unnervingly naturalistic performances from its young cast, “The Plague” transforms the chlorine-soaked banalities of boyhood into a feverish descent — part psychological horror, part moral reckoning. —Mimi Brody, Programmer
October 24, 6:15 p.m., Chinese 6; screening to be followed by a conversation with director and screenwriter Charlie Polinger.
‘A Useful Ghost’Best Friend Forever
“A Useful Ghost”
Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s absurdist, shapeshifting feature debut is perhaps the most delightfully original film I’ve seen all year. A whimsical opening with a self-proclaimed Academic Ladyboy and his possessed vacuum cleaner blossoms into twisting tales of unlikely reincarnations, where lost love and clandestine romance unearth a heartfelt plea for the remembrance of personal history and a biting proclamation for collective labor dissension. In times of increasing cynicism and apathy in the zeitgeist, this phantasm extravaganza — at once humorously deadpan in its playful tableaus and poignantly sincere at its emotional core — feels like a breath of fresh air. —Anna Li, Associate Programmer
October 26, 8:30 p.m., Chinese 3; screening to be followed by a conversation with director and screenwriter Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke.
“Straight Circle”
Oscar Hudson’s Venice Critics’ Week winner is a boldly original anti-war satire that boggles the mind as its unpredictable and hallucinatory narrative unfolds. Two enemy soldiers are tasked with the farcical mission of guarding a middle-of-nowhere border in the remote desert. Their resentment for one another shifts with growing levels of boredom, hunger, and mental decline…it’s not long before their latent daddy issues and toxic masculinity rise to the surface, forcing their identities to meld together and their designated sides of the border to be forgotten. Striking cinematography, sharp dialogue, and standout performances from twin brothers Luke and Elliott Tittensor make Hudson’s feature debut a riveting journey through the tainted minds of men at war. —Julia Kipnis, Associate Programmer
October 24, 9:30 p.m., Chinese 5
‘Yes’Kino Lorber
“Yes”
Arguably the most audacious and visually and psychologically frenetic film in the festival, Israel’s enfant terrible of cinema Nadav Lapid delivers an excoriating screed on his country’s compromised moral condition, pouring his own distraught, disgusted, verging on schizophrenic ambivalence into the character of Y, a court jester and sometimes escort to Israel’s financial and military elite. Set after the attacks of October 7, Y (played with slapstick elasticity by poet and playwright Ariel Bronz) pimps himself out for wild, debaucherous parties while the world burns. The film’s final reveal is one last turning of the knife in Lapid’s incisive, combustible critique of a country ensnared in the delirium of war. —Travis Weedon, Associate Programmer
October 23, 5:45 p.m., Chinese 4; screening to be followed by a conversation with director and screenwriter Nadav Lapid.
“Lab Man” (Shorts Program: Documentary 2)
Arturo Arnold, the lifeblood of a North Hollywood film lab, dedicates himself to mastering 8mm and 16mm emulsion. Through a compelling black and white reverie, “Lab Man” acts as both an educational exercise on conserving film and personal character study of a man keeping the craft alive. This suave, mesmerizing short will inspire you to finally pick up that film camera and appreciate the art of analog. Arturo’s passion for preserving film is something all cinephiles can relate to! —Nichole Young, Shorts Programmer & Programming Coordinator
October 25, 5:00 p.m., Chinese 2
“Poster Boy” (Shorts Program: Live Action 1)
As someone who distinctly remembers getting the combo *NSYNC/Britney Spears McDonald’s VHS tape as a child, “Poster Boy” instantly transported me back to the 1990s with its tale of a young teen clamoring to make the cut at a boy band open audition. Oozing with the sheer desperation of that special teenage desire to be liked, this short film is an immaculately composed snapshot of the perils of trying to succeed at all costs. —Eli Prysant, Assistant Programmer
October 23, 8:15 p.m., Chinese 2
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