One of the most exciting parts of LA’s annual AFI Fest is its unpredictable nature – especially in the prize race.
At the end of October every year, it is basically last in the queue among autumn film festivals in metropolitan areas that still regularly program big-ticket red carpet premieres. Some years these are premieres for future Best Picture nominees like “The Fabelmans” or “Maestro.” And every now and then the festival even hosts last-minute dark horse world premieres like “Juror #2” or “Tick, Tick… Boom!”
But overall, as this year’s lineup conveys, AFI Fest’s premiere red carpet section positions it as a festival for underdogs. Those movies that you look back on and say: “Okay, this did has Oscar buzz.” (Remember “Here,” “Heretic” and “Maria”? AFI gave them a moment to shine last year.)
The 2025 festival kicked off Wednesday, Oct. 22, with “Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere,” arguably the red carpet premiere most likely to garner Oscar success, given the Academy’s penchant for music biopics. Since AFI Fest is one of the only times Los Angeles has a centralized time and place to catch as many award contenders in theaters as possible, there was a good chance many Oscar voters were in attendance at the Chinese Theater to see Bruce Springsteen himself perform a couple of songs from his “Nebraska” album, an act meant to bolster Jeremy Allen White’s energetic performance as him.
The following night had higher stakes, as the Los Angeles premiere of “Jay Kelly” was a jaw-dropping moment for the Netflix release trying to improve on its unusually lukewarm reviews from Venice Film Festival. As predictedThe Noah Baumbach film about a Hollywood star looking back on his lack of work-life balance played much better at the epicenter of American filmmaking, with even the director pointing out during the post-screening Q&A that there were jokes that only local audiences caught on to.
At another studio, “Jay Kelly” would more comfortably be a Best Picture contender. But the latest success with the Academy crowd (of which a couple hundred were in attendance) comes at a moment when the second Netflix film “Frankenstein” is also on the rise (director Guillermo del Toro was present throughout the festival as guest artistic director), and the Sundance acquisition “Train Dreams” is finally starting to catch a second wind (propelled in part by a special screening). But a silver lining for “Jay Kelly”: There was a lot more talk of a Best Actor nomination for star George Clooney at the after-party than people talking about a Best Supporting Actor nod for co-star Adam Sandler being a foregone conclusion.
Friday’s premiere of “Nuremberg” didn’t make much noise, though star Russell Crowe continues to garner praise for his performance as Nazi General Hermann Göring, making him yet another name to consider in the pool of dozens of viable best male contenders from this year.
Saturday was much livelier with the red carpet premieres of both “Dead Man’s Wire” and “Christy” not only scoring themselves as award contenders, but serving as debuts for their financier turned distributorRow K Entertainment and Black Bear, respectively. While a Best Picture nomination is likely too far of an uphill battle for either film, “Dead Man’s Wire” makes a case for its director Gus Van Sant, lead Bill Skarsgård and upstart screenwriter Austin Kolodney, while “Christy” is mostly counting on awards attention for lead Sydney Sweeney, with possible recognition for supporting actor Benich Foster, as Davids and the original Benich Foster. co-wrote with his filmmaker wife Mirrah Foulkes, from a story by Katherine Fugate.
The last day of AFI Fest ended with the two world premieres that the festival managed to put on this year: “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants” and “Song Sung Blue.” For the former, the real Oscar contender in this robust year of animated films is actually the short that ran before it, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Chrome Alone 2 – Lost in New Jersey.” As for Craig Brewer’s “Song Sung Blue,” its highly anticipated premiere, especially given the buzz surrounding star Kate Hudson’s appearance, took the wind out of the sails.
The musical tearjerker about a Wisconsin couple who form a popular Neil Diamond tribute act, based on a true story, received mixed reviews, though some are still digging Hudson’s awards potential (not so much co-star Hugh Jackman’s, given the aforementioned, more than stacked Best Actor race.)
If everyone were completely truthful, then the Focus Features movie, which will be released this holiday season, tries to capture that “The Greatest Showman” or “A Man Called Otto” crowd that inexplicably shows up in droves, and at least earn the movie some AARP Movies for Grownups Awards. Former Oscar nominee Hudson is definitely a contender to be nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globes, but she would have to beat out other expected nominees like “Wicked: For Good” star Cynthia Erivo or “One Battle After Another” star Chase Infiniti, or “The Testament of Seyfried” star, etc. for Jessie Buckley, star of another Focus Features release, “Hamnet.”
