The American Film Institute (AFI) has announced the dates for AFI Fest 2023. The 37th edition of the Institute’s annual festival will take place exclusively in person on October 25-29, 2023, at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre in the heart of Hollywood. The five-day festival will once again include a curated selection of Red Carpet galas, Special Screenings, World Cinema, Documentaries and Short Films.
“As we look ahead to AFI Fest, we are reminded of the power of film festivals to immerse, to inspire and to bring us together,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO. “We look forward to shining a proper light upon films from around the world that move us and to celebrating the artists that lead the way to a brighter future.”
Entries for the AFI Fest 2023 Short Film Competition program are now open and filmmakers are invited to submit fiction, documentary, experimental and animated short films. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognizes AFI Fest as a qualifying festival for the Live Action, Animated and Documentary Short Film categories for the annual Academy Awards®.
SHORT FILM SUBMISSION DATES
- Early Deadline – March 2, 2023
- Official Deadline – April 13, 2023
- Final Deadline – June 1, 2023
Learn more about submitting to AFI Fest 2023 here.
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Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults — two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
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