AFI Fest adds foreign Oscar contenders, festival favorites to lineup

PanARMENIAN.Net - The American Film Institute’s AFI Fest 2015 has added 20 films to its lineup in the New Auteurs and American Independents sections, including nine films directed by women, two Oscar foreign-language contenders and a number of films that have received acclaim on the festival circuit, TheWrap reports.

Among the films added to the Nov. 5-12 festival in Hollywood are Alice Winocour’s “Disorder,” with Matthias Schoenaerts and Diane Kruger; Josh Mond‘s “James White,” with Cynthia Nixon and Christopher Abbott; and Khalik Allah’s “Field Niggas,” a documentary set at the intersection of 125th Street and Lexington Avenue in Harlem.

The New Auteurs section features international films from first and second-time directors, all of whom will be competing for the Grand Jury Prize. Jurors in the section include TheWrap’s Inkoo Kang.

Among the New Auteurs selections are two films entered in the Oscar foreign-language race: Guatemala’s “Ixcanul,” about a young Mayan woman who becomes pregnant, and France’s “Mustang,” about a group of Turkish sisters who are suddenly subjected to restrictions by their conservative family.

The American Independents section will include Trey Edward Shults’ “Mediterannea” and Chloe Zhao’s “Songs My Brothers Taught Me,” both of which screened at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, as well as Zachary Treitz’s “Men Go to Battle,” a low-budget indie that recreates the Civil War era to tell a story of two brothers separated by war.

Previously announced films at the festival include Angelina Jolie‘s “By the Sea,” which will serve as the opening-night attraction on Nov. 5; Peter Landesman‘s Will Smith drama “Concussion,” which screens on Nov. 10; and Adam McKay‘s “The Big Short,” which will premiere on closing night, Nov. 12.

The bulk of the AFI Fest lineup will be announced in the coming days. Ticket packages are currently on sale at AFI.com, with free tickets available to the public after the full lineup is announced.