AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival has announced that United Artists’ “Lions for Lambs” has been selected as the Festival’s Opening Night Gala presentation. “Lions for Lambs” will have its North American Premiere when it opens AFI FEST on Thursday, November 1, 2007 at ArcLight Hollywood’s Cinerama Dome Theatre.
Directed by Academy Award® winner Robert Redford, and starring Redford, Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise, “Lions for Lambs” is a powerful and gripping story that digs behind the news, the politics and a nation divided to explore the human consequences of a complicated war.
The film marks the first production from the new United Artists, which was reborn last year through a new partnership between Tom Cruise, Paula Wagner and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.
”We are incredibly proud that AFI has chosen ‘Lions for Lambs’ for its Opening Night Gala,” said Wagner, UA’s Chief Executive Officer. “We think it’s an exciting film and an important film, and this is the perfect way to introduce it to the public.”
The Opening Night Gala holds a unique significance this year, as the date will mark the first day on the job for AFI’s new President and CEO Bob Gazzale, who succeeds Jean Picker Firstenberg to become only the third person to lead the American Film Institute since Lyndon B. Johnson announced the institute’s creation in 1967.
“AFI is thrilled to host the premiere ‘Lions for Lambs’ on Opening Night at AFI FEST presented by Audi, and to play a role in the celebration of new leadership at United Artists, which has for ninety years provided so many extraordinary moments in film history.” said Jean Picker Firstenberg, President and CEO of AFI. “It is also an auspicious moment in AFI history as we welcome Bob Gazzale as President and CEO on November 1st. I can’t imagine a more exciting film to commemorate the occasion and kick off the Festival.”
