The first three big fall film festivals may have come and gone, but there are more fests returning to their post-pandemic offerings in the months ahead. The 60th New York Film Festival, for instance, will begin on Saturday, Jan. 30th. A regular fixture on the Los Angeles awards circuit scene, AFI Fest, is back in November and today it announced a slew of gala presentations including the U.S. premiere of “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio.”
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The Netflix stop-animation feature will have its world premiere at the London Film Festival on Oct. 15.
Other galas include the U.S. premiere of Steven Spielberg‘s Best Picture frontrunner, “The Fablemans” (sure to be a hot ticket), as well as Maria Schrader’s “She Said,” Elvis Mitchell’s documentary “Is That Black Enough For You?!?,” Oliver Hermanus’ “Living,” and Florian Zeller’s “The Son.” AFI will also be the first major LA screening of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths” after not-so pleasant receptions at the Venice and Telluride Film Festivals.
AFI also revealed that the world premiere of Apple TV+’s “Selena Gomez: My Mind and Me” will open the festival on Nov. 2. “The Fablemans” will close the festival on Nov. 6.
Traditionally, AFI Fest has begun after Nov. 8 and extended into mid to late November. The fact it’s so early in the month means it’s highly unlikely surprise sneaks that have been a mainstay of the festival will make the cut. Over the years, Ava DuVernay’s “Selma,” Clint Eastwood’s “American Sniper” and David O. Russell’s “The Fighter,” among others, all had “last minute” world premiere screenings at AFI Fest.
While more films will be added to the AFI schedule it’s notable that Netflix has provided three galas to the proceedings while Universal Pictures and Sony Classics have each provided two. Focus Features, Searchlight, Sony Pictures, and Paramount Pictures, which all have notable releases following AFI, appear to be sitting this edition out.
AFI Fest 2022 will run from Nov. 2 through 6.