AFF Announces First 10 Films for 2010 Fest

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AFF 2010 logoAustin Film Festival has just announced the first films in its lineup for the October festival and conference, and several are from Austin and Texas filmmakers. The "Early 10" also includes some movies from Hollywood filmmakers and actors.

Fair Game, directed by Doug Liman (Mr. and Mrs. Smith), will have its regional premiere at the fest. The action thriller based on Valerie Plame's autobiography stars Sean Penn and Naomi Watts ... and also San Antonio native Bruce McGill, who was inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame this year. Actor Dax Shepard (who was in the Austin-shot comedy Idiocracy) makes his feature filmmaking debut as the writer and co-director of Brother's Justice, in which he plays an actor named Dax who decides to become a martial-arts action star.

Texas-connected films include Rainbows End, I Didn't Come Here to Die and Dig, all of which are having their world premieres at AFF this year. I Didn't Come Here to Die was shot locally; Dig was shot partially in Austin as well as in South Texas.

Full details on all of these films after the jump. Austin Film Festival runs from October 21-28 this year. We're looking forward to finding out AFF's complete lineup, which should be announced in mid-September.

Brother's Justice
Directors: David Palmer, Dax Shepard
Writer: Dax Shepard
Cast: Dax Shepard, Nate Tuck, Tom Arnold, Bradley Cooper, David Koechner
Regional Premiere
Motivated by Box Office statistics, Dax Shepard, with the help of his buddy Nate, has made a decision to leave comedy to pursue his dream of becoming an international Martial Arts action star.

Dig
Writer/Director: Stephen Belyeu
Cast: Jordan Jones, Theo Gutierrez, Richard C. Jones, Mary Harder, Emily Baker
World Premiere
Set in the midst of a small town, against the agricultural landscape of South Texas, Dig tracks 23-year-old Mike in his search for answers following the untimely death of his father.

Dog Sweat
Writer: Maryam Azadi
Director: Hossein Keshavarz
Cast: Ahmad Akbarzadeh, Tahereh Esfahani, Bagher Forohar
Regional Premiere
Both dramatic and funny, Dog Sweat intertwines the lives of six young Iranians as they struggle to satisfy their private and personal desires in the face of conservative Islamic society.

Fair Game
Writer: Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth
Director: Doug Liman
Cast: Naomi Watts, Sean Penn, Bruce McGill, Sam Shepard
Regional Premiere
A suspense-filled glimpse into the dark corridors of political power, a riveting action-thriller based on the autobiography of real-life undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame (Naomi Watts), whose career was destroyed and marriage strained to its limits when her covert identity was exposed by a politically motivated press leak.

I Didn't Come Here to Die
Writer/Director: Bradley Scott Sullivan
Cast:  Kurt Cole, Madi Goff, Niko Red Star, Emmy Robbin, Indiana Adams
World Premiere
The story of six young volunteers working on a humanitarian project in the woods. Horrific accidents, rash decisions and the unpredictability of human nature lead them all to the same disturbing conclusion: volunteer work can be a killer. 

Made in Dagenham
Writer: Bill Ivory
Director: Nigel Cole
Cast: Sally Hawkins, Bob Hoskins, Richard Schiff, Miranda Richardson
Regional Premiere
The story of the 1968 strike at the Ford Dagenham car plant in England, where female workers walked out in protest against sexual discrimination and the woman, Rita O'Grady, who lead the fight (Sally Hawkins)

Make Believe
Director: J. Clay Twell
Regional Premiere
A coming of age journey set in the quirky subculture of magic, this documentary follows six of the world's best young magicians as they battle for the title of Teen World Champion. From the producers behind The King of Kong.

Rainbows End
Director: Eric Hueber
World Premiere
An invitation to record with The Legendary Stardust Cowboy prompts Country Willie Edwards and his band "The Cosmic Debris" to launch their first west coast tour. Having never broken the gravitational pull of Deep East Texas, six men and two roosters embark on a journey to the other side of a dream.

Rubble Kings
Director: Shan Nicholson
World Premiere
Through archival footage Nicholson tells the story of the real Warriors that walked the streets of New York City in the 1970s and the harsh reality of gang life in a city that seemed to be falling apart.

The Space Between
Writer/Director: Travis Fine
Cast: Melissa Leo, Anthony Keyvan, Brad William Henke, AnnaSophia Robb, Phillip Rhys
Regional Premiere
A world-weary flight attendant and a prematurely wise 10-year-old Pakastani-American boy connect with one another amidst the chaos of September 11, 2001. When Montine discovers the boy's direct personal link to the terrorist attacks, she instinctively embarks on an unsanctioned cross-country road trip to help Omar discover his uncertain future.