AFI unreels new international film festival

updated 7:23 p.m. ET Sept. 20, 2006

DALLAS - The American Film Institute announced Wednesday the creation of a new international film festival in Dallas.

The AFI Dallas International Film Festival is scheduled for March 22 to April 1 and is expected to feature dozens of international films, documentaries and shorts. Many are to be shown on 53-foot-wide high-definition outdoor screens that organizers say are the largest in the country.

“It will be a major international film festival with more than 150 films and 200 screenings,” said festival founder and prominent advertising consultant Liener Temerlin, saying the aim is to make it “one of the nation’s pre-eminent film festivals.”

Michael Cain, an AFI graduate and founder of the city’s Deep Ellum Film Festival, will serve as artistic director.

Dallas is home to several smaller film festivals, the largest one the USA Film Festival which showed about 35 films this year.

“We add ours hoping to make Dallas a city of film festivals,” Cain said at a press conference.

Texas already boasts the increasingly influential South by Southwest Festival, which showcases independent films. The Austin festival is set for March 9-17.

AFI, which has run the AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival for 20 years, trains filmmakers and presents a prestigious lifetime achievement award each year.

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