Based on the popular manga of the same name, this film details the education and early career of a popular geisha, or courtesan. Passions and goals collide for girls who seek to become the oiran, the highest-ranking prostitute who only the wealthiest and most powerful could hope to patronize. This lush and opulent vision of a lost world is a one-of-a-kind cinematic export from first-time director Mika Ninagawa. More...

A young girl is about to experience her first kiss, but a crippling fear of being drowned by saliva threatens to overtkae this childhood moment. More...

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Samsung Fresh Films, the nation’s largest teen filmmaking program is proud to present the inaugural Samsung Fresh Films Youth Fest 2007 at AFI FEST.
 
Youth Fest 2007 is a 3-hour event, jam-packed with demonstrations and panels to celebrate and inspire the filmmakers of tomorrow!
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A brother and sister each mired in career and commitment problems are thrown together while caring for their estranged father when his health starts to fail. Writer/director Tamara Jenkins delivers the goods, getting superb performances from Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Philip Bosco. More...

A brother and sister each mired in career and commitment problems are thrown together while caring for their estranged father when his health starts to fail. Writer/director Tamara Jenkins delivers the goods, getting superb performances from Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Philip Bosco More...

In attendance:   Alex Cox, Steven Fierberg, Daren Hicks, Simon Tams

Two actors, Fred and Mel, discover that a Western they appeared in as children is being screened in Monument Valley. During the production, both of them were savagedby the sadistic screenwriter, Fritz Frobisher, who is making a personal appearance at the show. The actors vow to take a road trip and exact their revenge. But first they must con Mel's beautiful daughter into lending them her car. Ultimately, everyone's fate depends on their knowledge of the maestro Sergio Leone. More...

When her husband dies in a car accident, Shin-ae decides to leave Seoul with her son Jun (Seon Jeong-yeob). She relocates to Miryang, a nondescript city with no particular appeal other than its being the hometown of her deceased spouse, in Lee Chang-dong's latest masterpiece, SECRET SUNSHINE. More...

Ingmar Bergman's SHAME is a film about the way war destroys not just bodies but souls, and it has all the forceful clarity of a true masterpiece. As is often the case with Bergman's classic films, there's not a single wasted shot in SHAME, and it goes from tentative domestic peace to full-scale end-of-the-world destruction and despair. More...

The finest animators in the world are gathered in one place. It has been a stellar year for filmmaking, one frame at a time. Here is a collection of outstanding work from a few newcomers and master cartoonists as well. More...

This is a showcase for original artistic responses to environmental crises including heavy metal shows, magical drought, mainstream cinema and young love. Did I forget to mention the psycho hillbillies? More...

Gather the whole family around to watch buildings being destroyed and young love blossom. Also the kids will love a complex thesis about archiving in the Internet age or a Spanish animated mobeius storyline. Just kidding, this show is NOT safe for kids. More...

It's coming at you faster than a lightning bolt! Here we find a snowy tale courtesy of Mr. Tobias Wolfe is included in this veritable cuisnart of cinematic brilliance with an unusual but decidedly female tinge. If that isn't enough for you we also have Mr. H.R. Giger stopping in for a tour of his lair. More...

A chorus of paradox, this program explores the triumphant beauty of unrepentant discord.  AFI FEST alumni rub shoulders with new faces as your backyard expands around the globe, a personal history becomes collective and the future slams into the past. More...

SHUTEYE HOTEL is a film noir murder mystery that takes place in a sleazy hotel. As cops investigate the gruesome murders they become victims of this evil force. What JAWS did to swimming, SHUTEYE HOTEL will do for sleeping. More...

The Icelandic musical group Sigur Rós break a two-year silence to release this, their first-ever concert film, with a companion album to come later this autumn. Filmed over two weeks last summer while the band undertook a free tour of Iceland, HEIMA stands as a colossal labor of love - if not to say grand folly - typical of this most exacting of bands. More...

A stunning opening shot of a heavenly breaking dawn sets the pace for Carlos Reygadas' third feature film. His most mature and emotionally moving film to date, SILENT LIGHT exhibits Reygadas' thoughtful approach to cinema. While his protagonists still face their demons, SILENT LIGHT has a tender tone that is as soft as the sun's rays peeping through the trees. More...

Gregg Araki's SMILEY FACE is a sinsemilla-infused amuse bouche aglow with bright colors and vibrant characters. Araki deftly pokes fun at pot culture while affectionately embracing it. A strong comedic performance by Anna Faris as the loveably misguided Jane along with a sublimely bizarre supporting cast make this a long, strange and boisterous trip. Just remember: Don't eat the cupcakes. More...

Inspired by true events of a teacher-student affair, SOLOS narrates the fading relationship of a couple, and the love of a mother who fears her son will never return to her. The silence that dwells between the characters brings out their loneliness as they struggle with disappointment but are unable to share their true emotions. More...

This doc tells the true story of the high profile controversy involving poor farmers and their supporters, including celebrity tree sitters, the developer and the city over the largest urban farm in the U.S. It includes a rare interview with the developer and highlights the farmers deterimined efforts to stay connected to the land after eviction and bulldozing. More...

Richard Kelly's epic political satire takes place on July Fourth weekend, 2008. A private eye stricken with amnesia, a porn star with her own talk show and a Hermosa Beach police officer hold the key to a vast political conspiracy. More...

It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye. More...

This documentary chronicles the last great American showman. A master of ballyhoo who became a brand name in movie horror with his outrageous audience participation gimmicks, Castle treated delighted moviegoers to buzzing seats, flying skeletons, luminescent ghosts and life insurance policies against “death by fright.” Director Jeffrey Schwarz relates Castle's rags-to-riches tale with appropriate brio, including a wealth of entertaining archival footage and numerous interviews with the impresario's friends, family and fans. More...

Whether it's jumping out of a helicopter hovering above the powdery slopes of Alaska's mountain ranges or trying to outrun an avalanche in the French Alps, STEEP traces the legacy of extreme skiing from its early pioneers to the death-defying daredevils of today. With breathtaking cinematography and immersive sound design, director Mark Obenhaus puts his viewers on the slopes. Dress warmly! More...

Following an unexpected tragedy, artist Steve Kurtz embarks on a Kafkaesque odyssey through the netherworld of homeland security. With fascinating subject matter and unique filmmaking, director Lynn Hershman Leeson implicates her viewers as co-conspirators in one of the most surreal abuses of power since the Teapot Dome scandal. A constitutional comedy of errors, and the joke is on all of us. More...

Do not pay attention to this tremor. More...