Legendary Hollywood icon Robert Towne will receive the prestigious “Star Award” at the 2009 AFI Dallas Film Festival which runs March 26 through April 5. Towne, who wrote such classic films as “Chinatown,” “The Last Detail,” “Shampoo” and “Heaven Can Wait” will be honored as well as participate in a Q&A with Time Magazine’s Richard Schickel that will follow a screening of “Chinatown.”
AFI Dallas has also filled out their programming schedule with ten new additions including narratives and documentaries from around the world. The new additions are as follows:
AMERICANA
Director: Topaz Adizes
Documentary follows the experiences of two young men from a small town in Arizona as they complete their last semester of high school and enlist in the Army to join the fight in Iraq.
THE AMERICAN TRAP
Director: Charles Binamé
Cast: Rémy Girard, Gérard Darmon, Colm Feore, Joe Cobden, Janet Lane
Thriller set in a world of global intrigue and corruption, as a man attempts to uncover the truths behind the JFK assassination.
EVANGELION 1.0 YOU ARE NOT ALONE
Director: Hideaki Anno, Masayuki, Kazuya Tsurumaki
Film is the first in a four-part series adapted and re-imagined from the legendary NEON GENESIS EVANGELION anime series.
THE GARDEN
Director: Scott Hamilton Kennedy
Documentary traces the events that led to the creation of a 14-acre community garden in South Central Los Angeles and the struggle between the urban farmers, the City of Los Angeles and a powerful developer who sought to evict them and build warehouses on the property.
KASSIM THE DREAM
Director: Kief Davidson
Documentary profiles Kassim ‘The Dream’ Ouma, who survived being a child soldier in Uganda to becoming a champion boxer.
LIKE DANDELION DUST
Director: Jon Gunn
Cast: Mira Sorvino, Barry Pepper, Cole Hauser
Drama pits a couple versus a parolee father who seeks to take custody of their six-year-old adopted son.
LYMELIFE
Director: Derick Martini
Cast: Alec Baldwin, Kieran Culkin, Rory Culkin, Jill Hennessy, Timothy Hutton, Cynthia Nixon, Emma Roberts
Drama set in Long Island during the late 1970s, follows the intertwining lives of two families focusing on the teenaged children and their attempts to cope with the times.
RUDO Y CURSI
Director: Carlos Cuarón
Cast: Diego Luna, Gael Garcia Bernal
Drama about the turmoil between two brothers who compete against each other in the world of professional soccer.
TYSON
Director: James Toback
Documentary takes an unvarnished view of the controversial former heavyweight champion boxer.
UPSTREAM BATTLE
Director: Ben Kempas
Documentary chronicles the battle between Native Americans and an energy corporation as they seek to protect the salmon they depend on for their survival.
For more information on AFI Dallas, check the official AFI Dallas website at http://www.afidallas.com
