By Robert St. Martin
Los Angeles, CA (The Hollywood Times) 10/23/24 – AFI FEST 2024, the premiere film festival in Los Angeles, begins Wednesday, October 23, at the Chinese TCL Theatres in Hollywood. This five-day event showcases movie premiers and films from all the world. One of the most anticipated films I Pablo Lorrain’s Maria, featuring Angelina Jolie as opera singer Maria Callas. This film provides a tumultuous and beautiful depiction of one of the world’s most renowned artists and reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days in Paris, as La Callas negotiates the blurred boundaries between her public image and private self.
Another premiere at the AFI FEST is Here, an original film about multiple families and a special place they inhabit. It reunites the director, writer and stars of Forest Gump. The story travels through generations, capturing the most relatable of human experiences. Robert Zemeckis directs from a screenplay by Eric Roth and him. Told much in the style of the acclaimed graphic novel by Richard McGuire on which it is based, Tom Hanks and Robin Wright star in a tale of love, loss, laughter and life, all of which happen right here.
Starring Hugh Grant, Heretic follows two young missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) who are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed, becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The film is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods.
The World Premiere of Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2 follows family man Justin Kemp (Nicholas Hoult) who, while serving as a juror in a high-profile murder trial, finds himself struggling with a serious moral dilemma…one he could use to sway the jury verdict and potentially convict – or free – the accused killer. The cast also includes Toni Collette, J.K. Simmons, Chris Messina, Gabriel Basso, Zoey Deutch, Cedric Yarbrough, Leslie Bibb and Kiefer Sutherland.
Music by John Williams, is a comprehensive look at the prolific life and career of legendary composer John Williams in a film directed by Laurent Bourzereau. From his early days as a jazz pianist to his 54 Oscar® nominations and five wins, the documentary celebrates Williams’ countless contributions to the moving image arts, music for the concert stage as well as his indelible impact on popular culture. The film features interviews with Steven Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Kate Capshaw, Gustavo Dudamel, J.J. Abrams, Chris Martin, Ron Howard, Chris Columbus, George Lucas, Itzhak Perlman, Lawrence Kasdan, Yo-Yo Ma, Ke Huy Quan, James Mangold, Alan Silvestri, David Newman, Thomas Newman, Seth MacFarlane, Anne-Sophie Mutter and Branford Marsalis, whose lives have been touched by Williams’ timeless music.
Much awaited is Pedro Almodóvar’s first English language feature film, The Room Next Door, an exquisite mortality tale also won the Golden Lion for Best Film at this year’s Venice Film Festival. Spanish iconoclast Pedro Almodóvar adapts Sigrid Nunez’s novel, his love of complicated woman, eye-catching production design and lurid melodrama effortlessly translating into a new tongue. Bestselling author Ingrid (Julianne Moore) is shocked to discover that her old friend Martha (Tilda Swinton) has been diagnosed with cancer. Having drifted apart in recent years, the women reconnect when Martha is stuck receiving treatment in the hospital. With her life hanging in the balance, Martha exposes harsh truths about her past as both a mother and war correspondent while Ingrid provides support as best as she can, her fear of death challenging her resolve.
There is considerable buzz about the German/Iranian co-production of The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Mohammad Rasoulof’s daring drama about two daughters defying their conservative father. The film has courted controversy in his native Iran, not only for its allegorical critique of the regime and depictions of real-life protests but also for its realistic depiction of women without head scarves on at home – which has been censored in Iranian cinema since the beginning of theocratic rule in 1979. With his promotion to Revolutionary Court inspector, government lawyer Iman (Missagh Zareh) is also issued a revolver. While he and his family enjoy a higher standard of living, the new position means Iman must deliver evidence-free summary judgments, including the death penalty, to those the regime seeks to punish. His wife Najmeh (Soheila Golestani) is a mostly uncritical supporter of him, but their two college-aged daughters Sana and Rezvan (Setareh Malek and Mahsa Rostami) question the regime’s oppressive positions, especially when their classmates become caught up in the latest round of protests.
