Michael Roskam (BULLHEAD): AFI FEST 2011 New Autuers Audience Award Winner and 2012 Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Language Film
Favorite AFI FEST Moment: I enjoyed the whole festival the whole time; the people of the festival, the audience, the guests and colleagues - the atmosphere. But as a director, being in Hollywood with your movie, visiting the theaters, and meeting your audience was, in this case, very special. I assume that winning the Audience Award has something to do with it.
Project Update: I can’t really reveal too much about it but I’m writing my new feature called THE FAITHFUL.
Alex Ross Perry (THE COLOR WHEEL): AFI FEST 2011 Young Americans program. Perry will be on the competition jury of the 2012 Locarno Film Festival
Favorite AFI FEST Moment: Really, one of my favorite moments of my whole festival year was standing on the roof of the amazing Roosevelt Hotel my second night there, looking down at Hollywood Boulevard and realizing that I was surrounded by so many of my best friends and fellow filmmakers. People with whom I had shared rough cuts of THE COLOR WHEEL months earlier (such as Sophia Takal, Larry Levine and Joe Swanberg, as well as some of my oldest friends and favorite collaborators like Kate Sheil) had all been invited to this amazing place to present our small personal films in a tremendously welcoming environment. It felt as though we had all arrived at this point together and it really was satisfying and rewarding to be invited to screen at a festival where Clint Eastwood was on page 10 of the program, Spielberg was on page 20, and me and all my friends were on page 40 or 45 or so.
Project Update: I have a new feature script that I am trying to get producers and stuff lined up for. It is an intimate epic about success and betrayal set in New York. I hope to shine a hilarious light on the way phonies and jealous types try to ruin and destroy others who are busy self destructing anyway. It is huge, definitely the biggest thing I have ever done and I really want to make it soon. I am also working on creating a TV series for a network you have heard of that is going to be announced soon, I hope.
Clay Liford (WUSS): AFI FEST 2011 Young Americans Audience Award Winner
Favorite AFI FEST Moment: We met so many lovely filmmakers at the FEST. AFI encourages interaction in a manner that many festivals don’t. We had dinner with Nacho Vigalondo (Director, EXTRATERRESTRIAL) one night.
Project Update: I’m currently in the final stages of post-production on my new film, SLASH. It’s about a pre-teen who writes erotic Harry Potter fan fiction. I’m also in the developmental stages on several features, one of which is a fairly direct follow up to WUSS.
