American Spirit

Fifteen years after the American Film Institute (AFI) revived L.A.'s much-loved Filmex festival with a new name and brand, the festival faces perhaps its biggest challenge to date as it tries to redefine itself and work in tandem with the Hollywood renaissance that is transforming the city.

Indeed, AFI Fest 2001, which runs Nov. 1-11, coincides with a host of events scheduled to mark the opening of the Hollywood & Highland complex on Nov. 8. Just as city officials hope the new complex will revitalize the once run-down area, festival organizers anticipate that Hollywood's new look will give their event some long-overdue recognition.

Often overshadowed by more-celebrated international festivals such as Cannes, Sundance, Venice and Toronto, AFI Fest has been gradually gaining momentum, drawing a record-breaking audience of more than 40,000 last year, with plans to top that number by 4% this year.

To this end, fest director Christian Gaines and programmer Nancy Collet have put together a screening schedule featuring some 117 films for the festival's 10-day run.

"It is a pretty small festival compared to many of the big international festivals," says Collet. "We have a tight program: 75 features (including 12 documentaries in competition) and 42 shorts, representing 36 countries. It's an itsy-bitsy number compared to Cannes or Berlin, but they've been around for over 50 years, while this is only our 15th. And the smaller size allows us to be much more selective in terms of the quality of the films."

Adds Gaines, "We are different from other major festivals like Cannes or Berlin only inasmuch as this is the film capital of the world, and we have a responsibility here today to act as hosts for the international film scene."

That, Gaines says, strongly links the festival with L.A.'s own multicultural population. "Our mission is really to reflect the cultural diversity of the people in Los Angeles, while providing an avenue of exposure to the film community for up-and-coming as well as more-established filmmakers," he says.

Collet points out another key difference between AFI Fest and its more famous rivals: "Those festivals are much more festivals for the (film) industry. Cannes won't even let you register without being in the business. While we welcome the industry, all our screenings are open to the public. We don't want to be elitist."

Nonetheless, hosting this kind of event requires an almost military precision, particularly this year, given that a programming committee of 20 people had to sift through more than 1,900 submissions.

It also means dealing with an endless succession of mishaps and coincidences.

One issue Collet and Gaines had to handle was the delay in finishing construction on the Kodak Theatre, the vast space that is part of the Hollywood & Highland complex, where the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will present the Oscars next year.

"We were hoping to have our closing-night screening there, but because the projection booth isn't ready, we won't be able to do that," notes Collet.

Just weeks before the festival was due to kick off, "Suriyothai," a $20 million historical drama -- one of this year's highlights and the most-expensive film ever shot in Thailand -- was withdrawn from competition because the film was still incomplete.

Even without "Suriyothai," Gaines and Collet have an ample range of other international highlights as well as a retrospective honoring director Ang Lee (Nov. 9).

The festival's opening, set to take place tonight at Hollywood's historic Mann Chinese Theatre, will feature the U.S. premiere of "Dark Blue World," a Sony Pictures Classics release from Oscar-winning Czech director Jan Szer?k ("Kolya"). The film chronicles Czech pilots in Britain's Royal Air Force during World War II.

The closing night (Nov. 11, also at the Mann Chinese) will mark the world premiere of "Monster's Ball," an independent film from Lions Gate, which stars Heath Ledger, Billy Bob Thornton and Halle Berry. The drama, set in the South, is about a prison guard who becomes involved with the wife of a man he has just executed. Most of the film's stars plan to attend.

In what is being billed as its centerpiece, the festival will screen "Lantana" (Nov. 6), director Ray Lawrence's follow-up to his critically acclaimed "Bliss." The Aussie production features Anthony LaPaglia, Barbara Hershey and Geoffrey Rush in a psychological murder mystery that revolves around a detective who discovers his wife is cheating on him.

But this year's AFI Fest is not just limited to dramatic features.

Gaines takes pains to note that there are several world-class documentaries screening during the festival's run, including the much-anticipated "Dogtown and Z-Boys," which examines the genesis of skateboarding, starting with the old days when skateboarders used empty swimming pools as their primary practice venue.

"We are also working with HBO on screening a series called 'HBO 10-Up,' the world premiere of a series of films by young student filmmakers," Gaines adds. The screenings will coincide with a special educational event for local children.

One other new project stands out, says Collet: "This year, we are initiating the Kodak Connect Program (a gathering of Hollywood industry figures and outsiders). This is a series of one-on-one meetings we're putting together with 75 people from the (Hollywood) film industry -- publicists, agents, filmmakers and executives -- that we're linking up with some of the filmmakers who are attending the festival, so they can exchange ideas and make relationships for the future."

Putting all this together does not seem to have fazed Gaines or Collet, even though this is only Gaines' second year as festival director. (Earlier, he worked as a programmer for the festival after serving as director of the Hawaii Film Festival.)

The hardest thing, according to Collet, is "trying to balance the need for a very diverse group of films, a lot of premieres and films that people in Los Angeles would not otherwise get to see -- and then films that will really please audiences as well -- not just hard-to-watch, gritty and depressing films, but ones they'll really enjoy."