AFI FEST 2023: Greta Gerwig’s Guest Director Curated Lineup Announced; ‘Lee’ with Kate Winslet Added as U.S. Premiere

Today, the American Film Institute (AFI) announced AFI FEST Guest Artistic Director Greta Gerwig has revealed the five films she has curated for this year’s festival: All That Jazz, An American in Paris, A Matter of Life and Death, Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and Wings of Desire. The films will screen throughout the 37th edition of festival taking place in Los Angeles. Gerwig will introduce select films including A Matter of Life and Death, as well as Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, which is set to screen in the iconic TCL Chinese Theatre on Thursday, October 26 at 6:00 p.m.  

Additionally, the U.S. Premiere of Lee, starring Academy Award-winning actress Kate Winslet, has been added to the Special Screenings section. Winslet, who also serves as a producer on the film, stars as Lee Miller, the war correspondent whose bold photos of the London Blitz, the liberation of Paris, and the concentration camps of Buchenwald and Dachau brought to light the struggles and horrors of World War II. The film is the narrative feature directorial debut from renowned cinematographer Ellen Kuras and features performances by Josh O’Connor, Andrea Riseborough, Andy Samberg, Alexander Skarsgård and Marion Cotillard. The film screens Saturday, October 28 at 12:00 p.m.    

Sly directed by Thom Zimny and featuring Sylvester Stallone has been added to the Documentary section. Sylvester Stallone looks back at his life and career in this intimate and unexpected documentary. Friends and collaborators pay tribute, including Talia Shire, Henry Winkler, Quentin Tarantino and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film screens Saturday, October 28 at 3:15 p.m.

The 37th edition of AFI FEST will take place October 25 through October 29 in Los Angeles.Individual tickets for all screenings are available for purchase at FEST.AFI.com.

This year’s AFI FEST program features over 140 titles for the public to enjoy across five days. In addition to 3 Red Carpet Premieres, the program includes 11 Special Screenings, 15 Luminaries, 12 Discovery, 16 World Cinema, 14 Documentary, 42 Short Film Competition, 30 films in the AFI Conservatory Showcase presented by AMC Networks, and 5 Guest Artistic Director selections. This year’s program represents 49 countries and includes 20 Best International Feature Oscar submissions. The World Premiere of Leave the World Behind, written and directed by Sam Esmail (AFI Class of 2004) and starring Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke and Mahershala Ali, will open AFI FEST on October 25. The World Premiere of Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story from directors Gelila Bekele and Armani Ortiz will be the Centerpiece film on October 27, and Bradley Cooper’s Maestro, a towering and fearless love story chronicling the lifelong relationship between Leonard Bernstein (Cooper) and Felicia Montealegre Cohn Bernstein (Carey Mulligan), will close AFI FEST 2023 on October 29. View full festival lineup here. 

Top Sponsors for AFI FEST 2023 include Apple Original Films, Amazon MGM Studios, AMC Networks, Canva, Netflix and Participant.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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