Toby & Hettie make a movie - part two!

By Morgan Bolah Special to the Daily News “I want the young people to feel good, and for the adults to feel good about the youth.”

By John Wildman AFI FEST Daily News Staff

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE COMPETITION JURY

AFI FEST 2008 presented by Audi today announced the 2008 award winners with Federico Veiroj’s ACNE named as the recipient of the Grand Jury Prize for International Feature Competition. Special Mention went to Igor Voloshin’s NIRVANA.

By Marc Lee AFI FEST Daily News Editor Everybody who attended Saturday’s Bill Plympton TALK/SHOW received a free, signed drawing from the cartoonist. And everybody who didn’t go missed out on way more than that.

By Roxanne Benjamin Special to the Daily News

By Marc Lee AFI FEST Daily News Editor Saturday afternoon’s first TALK/SHOW, Gaming: Art or Commerce?, covered much more than that.

By Roxanne Benjamin Special to the Daily News The Sloan Foundation and AFI FEST pulled together another rousing panel discussion yesterday for the Sloan Film Summit. The well-attended panel took a look at science’s role in cinema, particularly futuristic ‘disaster’ films.

I was talking to someone last night about how hard it is to answer the most oft asked question of me as a programmer: “What’s your favorite film in the festival?” I have stolen Lane’s line, saying, “The one playing right now! Go see that one.”

By Nived Ravikumar Special to the Daily News In ALONE IN FOUR WALLS, Alexandra Westmeier takes us inside a prison in her native Russia where the convicts are not mobsters but rather adolescent boys.

By Lydia Ianni Special to the Daily News

By Roxanne Benjamin Special to the Daily News Meet the Press: Today I’ve had the opportunity to sit in on that most private of arenas at a film festival—within the sacred walls of the Festival Press Room where the cameras are turned and the filmmakers are thrown into the spotlight. This morning’s interviewers are The Documentary Channel production staff, who were kind enough to let me be the fly on the wall while they filmed eight (yes, eight) of the festival’s documentary filmmakers and subjects in the lovely Roosevelt Hotel.

By Lane Kneedler AFI FEST Senior Programmer Eisner winning cartoonist Alison Bechdel articulated her three rules for a movie to attract her interest thusly: 1. Does it have at least two women in it, 2. Who [at some point] talk to each other, 3. About something besides a man

YELLOW SUBMARINE Director: George Dunning

By John Wildman AFI FEST Daily News Staff Writer Jean-Pierre Caner (TANAREXIA) “Some people have religion, I have the tanning salon.”

By John Wildman AFI FEST Daily News Staff

By Tim Carpenter Special to the Daily News A film certainly can pull out all the stops. Computer graphics. Enhanced sound. Even completely digitized characters. So it’s kind of nice when a film is simple: simple plot, simple story.

By Aliza Ma Special to the Daily News It’s difficult to believe more than a decade has spanned since Jia Zhangke made his debut, XIAOSHAN GOING HOME (1995), which won the highest honor at the 1997 Hong Kong Independent Short Film & Video Awards.

By Roxanne Benjamin Special to the Daiy News This year’s AFI FEST contains a number of exceptional works either by women, about women, or that offer a uniquely feminine point of view. While the premise and style of these films varies wildly, each explores the worldview of women through universal themes that are relevant regardless of sex or gender.

By Cameron Koller Special to the Daily News Family can be a very touchy subject for some, particularly one as unorthodox as Miss Kimberly Reed’s.

By Jeanette Gardzelewski AFI FEST Daily News Liaison to Queen Elizabeth Packing in crowds for a third time, AFI FEST 2008 really knows how throw a TALK/SHOW! Today’s panel, BOLD ADAPTATIONS featured five differently gifted screenwriters, each with a unique approach to pursuing their craft.

By John Wildman AFI FEST Daily News Staff

Lagan Sebert & Sandra Sampayo

By Cameron Koller Special to the Daily News