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Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox will have its North American premiere at the fest.

Oct 16, 2009 By Chris Tinkham Web Exclusive

Free tickets to the 2009 AFI Film Festival in Los Angeles will become available to the public at 12 p.m. PDT today. Tickets can be ordered online at AFI.com/afifest, by phone at 866-AFI-FEST, or at the Mann Chinese 6 Theatre (6925 Hollywood Blvd.) on the third level of the Hollywood and Highland Center. A maximum of 20 tickets can be ordered for seven days of scheduled films. There is a two ticket limit for each evening red carpet gala. A limited number of free tickets also will be available on the day of scheduled screenings through rush lines.

The nine-day film festival will showcase 54 narrative features, 13 documentary features and 26 shorts—including 27 world cinema and six alt cinema titles—from 32 countries. All screenings from October 30 through November 5 will take place at the Grauman’s Chinese and Mann Chinese 6 theaters in Hollywood, before the festival shifts Nov. 6-7 to Laemmle’s Monica 4-plex in Santa Monica, to coincide with the American Film Market, which is running from Nov.4 through Nov. 11 in Santa Monica.

Wes Anderson’s stop-motion animated feature Fantastic Mr. Fox will have its North American premiere as the festival’s Opening Night Gala presentation. The film is based on the best-selling children’s book by Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach) and features the voices of George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Willem Dafoe, Owen Wilson and Jarvis Cocker. Fox Searchlight will release the film in select cities on Nov. 13, before expanding on Nov. 25.

Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus will make its U.S. premiere at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Monday, Nov. 2 as the festival’s Centerpiece Screening Gala presentation. The film stars Heath Ledger in his final role, Christopher Plummer, model Lily Cole, Tom Waits, Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell. Sony Pictures Classics will release the film in theaters on December 25.

A Single Man, the directorial debut of fashion designer Tom Ford, will make its U.S. premiere at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Thursday, Nov. 5 as the festival’s Closing Night Gala presentation. Colin Firth, Julianne Moore, Matthew Goode and Ginnifer Goodwin star in the film. The Weinstein Company will release the film in theaters on December 11.

Christopher Plummer and Viggo Mortensen will receive tributes at this year’s festival. Plummer’s tribute will coincide with a screening of his film The Last Station on Tuesday, November 3 at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. Mortensen’s tribute will coincide with the U.S. premiere of The Road on on Wednesday, Nov. 4 at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

Other highlights:

Michael Haneke’s black-and-white, World War I-era film The White Ribbon, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes this year, will screen on Sunday, November 1.

Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes this year, and Oren Moverman’s The Messenger (starring Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson and Samantha Morton) will screen as part of the festival’s New Lights Competition, created to honor groundbreaking films by first- and second-time feature directors from around the world. Fish Tank will screen on Monday, Nov. 2, and The Messenger will screen on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

Jonathan Demme’s music documentary Neil Young Trunk Show will screen at 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 4.

A special screening of North By Northwest will take place on Monday, Nov. 2. The first Hitchcock film to be released on Blu-Ray has been restored and remastered for its 50th anniversary. As part of the event, director William Friedkin will moderate a Q&A with art director Robert Boyle and stars Eva Marie Saint and Martin Landau.

AFI.com/afifest