AFI FEST presented by Audi – celebrating its 25th year in 2011 – officially announced its dates and call for entries today.  AFI FEST will take place November 3 through 10 in Hollywood, California at the historic Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, the Mann Chinese 6 Theatres at the Hollywood & Highland Center, the Egyptian Theatre of the American Cinematheque and the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.  The market partner of AFI FEST, the American Film Market (AFM), will be held November 2 through 9.

AFI FEST emerged in 1987 when the American Film Institute adopted FILMEX, Los Angeles’ venerated film exposition.  As a program of the AFI, the festival over the past 25 years has paid tribute to numerous influential filmmakers and artists, including Pedro Almodovar, Darren Aronofsky, Danny Boyle, Catherine Deneuve, Johnny Depp and Meryl Streep, to name a few, and has screened scores of films that have produced Oscar wins, including BLACK SWAN, THE KING’S SPEECH, MONSTER’S BALL, PRECIOUS, SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, TALK TO HER and WALK THE LINE.

Submissions are now open and filmmakers are invited to submit narrative, documentary, experimental, animated and short films at AFI.com/AFIFEST or through Withoutabox.com.  The final submission deadline for shorts (under 30 minutes) is July 29, and the final deadline for feature length films is August 12.  The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognizes AFI FEST as a qualifying festival for the Short Films category of the annual Academy Awards®.

Among the returning AFI FEST sections is “Breakthrough,” which highlights films found solely through the submissions process.  As part of last year’s entrants in this section, I WILL FOLLOW, the feature debut from Ava Duvernay, is currently having an expanded run in the U.S.  “I WILL FOLLOW made its Los Angeles premiere to a sold-out audience, thanks to AFI FEST.  We couldn’t have dreamed of a more lovely way to begin our film’s journey,” said Duvernay, of her experience at the festival.  In addition to providing audience exposure, the winning film in the “Breakthrough” section is eligible for a $5,000 cash award.

Filmmakers can call 1.866.AFI.FEST for more information about the submissions process.