AFI DALLAS announces fifteen films to be screened.

AFI DALLAS 2008 International Film Festival Presented by Target, Founding Sponsor Victory Park is pleased to announce fifteen films that will screen at this year’s festival. The film festival runs from March 27 – April 6.

Announced films include:

The Last Lullaby
Director: Jeffrey Goodman
Cast: Tom Sizemore, Sasha Alexander, Randall Batinkoff

A noirish thriller about a former hit man whose struggle to cope with the unexpected restlessness he faces in retirement inspires him to become involved in the life of a new target in a way that could threaten his very own life.

Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts (AUS)
Director: Scott Hicks

This music documentary follows an eventful year in the career and personal life of distinguished composer Philip Glass as he interacts with a number of friends and collaborators, including Chuck Close, Ravi Shankar and Martin Scorsese.

Sonic Youth: Sleeping Nights Awake
Director: Michael Albright

This music documentary is culled from the footage shot by seven teen students both onstage and backstage during a Sonic Youth 4th of July concert in 2006. A rough cut of the film screened previously at NoisePop, but the completed version will be making its official U.S. debut.

Battle In Seattle (U.S.A.)
Director: Stuart Townsend
Cast: Charlize Theron, Woody Harrelson, Ray Liotta, Michelle Rodriguez

Activists arrive in Seattle, Washington en masse to protest a meeting of the World Trade Organization. Riots and chaos ensue as demonstrators successfully stop the WTO meetings.

Circus Rosaire (U.S.A.)
Director: Robyn Bliley

Documentary follows the story of the Rosaire family, a ninth generation family of circus performers known for their unique and respectful manner of performing with animals, as they struggle to maintain their family heritage and adapt to the modern world of entertainment.

Jump (U.S.A.)
Director: Helen Hood Scheer

Documentary follows kids in jump roping competitions, progressing from state competitions to the Jump Rope nationals and the world championships.

The Life Before Her Eyes (U.S.A.)
Director: Vadim Perelman
Cast: Uma Thurman, Evan Rachel Wood

Based on the best-selling novel by Laura Kasischke, the dramatic thriller is about a suburban wife and mother (played by Uma Thurman) who begins to question what on the surface is a perfect life on the anniversary of a tragic high school shooting that killed her best friend. The film also stars Evan Rachel Wood.

Mongol (Kazakhstan)
Director: Sergei Bodrov

Film recounts the early life of Genghis Khan and the barbaric tribal struggles including his enslavement which ultimately formed the man who would go on to conquer half the world including Russia in 1206.

Public Enemy: Welcome To The Terrordome (U.S.A.)
Director: Robert Patton-Spruill

Documentary takes a look at the 20 year history of the influential hip hop group, Public Enemy and their impact musically, socially and politically, as well as giving rare insight into the personalities that make up the group.

Stuck (U.S.A.)
Director: Stuart Gordon
Cast: Mena Suvari, Stephen Rea

Film pits a hit & run driver with her relentlessly surviving victim in a disturbing and provocative study of the loss and gain of humanity through an unfortunate and shocking incident.

Then She Found Me (U.S.A.)
Director: Helen Hunt
Cast: Helen Hunt, Matthew Broderick, Colin Firth, Bette Midler

Film follows a New York schoolteacher as she hits a midlife crisis when, in quick succession, her husband leaves, her adoptive mother dies and her real one, an eccentric talk show host, materializes and turns her life upside down as she begins a courtship with the father of one of her students.

The Tracey Fragments (Canada)
Director: Bruce McDonald
Cast: Ellen Page

Film features a startling and innovative visual design, with Ellen Page starring as a teenager and social outcast wandering the streets of Winnipeg searching for her lost younger brother.

Triangle (Germany/Hong Kong/Finland)
Directors: Ringo Lam, Johnny To, Hark Tsui

Film’s story is told in three 30-minute segments (by three directors), as three friends seek out the buried treasure of a mysterious stranger.

CLICK HERE to get your passes for the 2008 AFI Dallas International Film Festival.