The American Film Institute’s 2023 AFI Fest has officially unveiled its lineup, marking the respective world premieres of Rob Reiner‘s “Albert Brooks: Defending My Life” documentary and Matthew Brown’s “Freud’s Last Session,” starring Anthony Hopkins as the titular psychiatrist.
This year’s AFI Fest takes place October 25 through 29, with Sam Esmail’s “Leave the World Behind” dystopian drama opening the festival. Tyler Perry documentary “Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story” will debut as a centerpiece screening; Bradley Cooper’s Leonard Bernstein film “Maestro” is slated to close out the festival.
The full AFI lineup boasts 141 total titles, including 18 Best International Feature Oscar submissions. The expanded selection of features and shorts includes three red carpet premieres, 10 Special Screenings, 15 Luminaries, 12 Discovery, 16 World Cinema, 13 Documentary, 42 Short Film Competition, and 30 films in the AFI Conservatory Showcase presented by AMC Networks.
The lineup has 44 percent of films directed by women, with 37 percent helmed by BIPOC filmmakers and 18 percent by LGBTQIA+ filmmakers.
Film highlights include Victor Erice’s return to cinema with “Close Your Eyes,” Kim Jee-Woon’s “Cobweb,” and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Venice winner “Evil Does Not Exist.” Alice Rohrwacher’s Cannes winner “La Chimera,” starring Josh O’Connor, and Catherine Breillat’s provocative “Last Summer” are programmed in addition to Steve McQueen’s Nazi occupation documentary “Occupied City” and Wim Wenders’ Japanese Oscar entry “Perfect Days” in the Luminaries program featuring world-renowned filmmakers.
AFI Fest has rounded up many of the most acclaimed films from the fall festivals this year. Jeff Nichols’ “The Bikeriders,” plus Christos Nikou’s “Fingernails,” Michel Franco’s Venice-winning “Memory” starring Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard, “Quiz Lady” with Awkwafina and Sandra Oh, “All of Us Strangers” with Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott, Cord Jefferson’s TIFF People’s Choice Award winner “American Fiction,” and Raven Jackson’s award-winning feature debut “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt,” produced by Barry Jenkins, round out the slate.
The program will also feature a panel celebrating the greatest film books of all time moderated by The Hollywood Reporter reporter Scott Feinberg. Some 300 of the world’s most noted filmmakers, film executives, authors and cultural tastemakers have cast ballots to determine a list of the 100 greatest books about film, which The Hollywood Reporter will reveal in a special issue on October 11. AFI Fest will gather many of them on October 28.
See the full lineup over at AFI Fest’s website here.
