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The American Film Institute announced today the films that will screen in the World Cinema, Breakthrough, Midnight, Shorts and Cinema’s Legacy programs at AFI Fest 2015 presented by Audi.

AFI Fest will take place November 5 – 12, 2015, in the heart of Hollywood. Screenings, Galas and events will be held at the historic Tcl Chinese Theatre, the Tcl Chinese 6 Theatres, Dolby Theatre, the Lloyd E. Rigler Theatre at the Egyptian, the El Capitan Theatre and The Hollywood Roosevelt.

World Cinema showcases the most acclaimed international films of the year; Breakthrough highlights true discoveries of the programming process; Midnight selections will grip audiences with terror; and Cinema’s Legacy highlights classic movies and films about cinema. World Cinema and Breakthrough selections are among the films eligible for Audience Awards. Shorts selections are eligible for the Grand Jury Prize, which qualifies the winner for Academy Award®consideration. This year’s Shorts jury features filmmaker Janicza Bravo,...

Straight outta my email inbox...  A short film titled "Pink Grapefruit" by from director Michael Mohan which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January of this year, and went on to win a jury award at South by Southwest in March. The story: A couple (played by Matt Peters and Nora Kirkpatrick) arrange a blind date of sorts in Palm Springs for mutual friends (Wendy McColm and Nathan Stewart Jarrett)... and, well, things happen. Director Mohan and co-screenwriter Chris Levitus' intent here was to freshen up a simple, familiar premise with a slightly disorienting end-product. Did they succeed? Sundance and SXSW certainly think so.  You...

Not unlike the previous year, a whopping eight thousand plus short films were submitted to Sundance this year. Among some of the filmmaker names that we are already familiar with, we find several feature filmmakers moonlighting back to the short form; basically the short is healthier than ever. Topping the 2015 crop, we have Jake Mahaffy (whose feature, Free in Deed appears to be somewhere in post) who contributes to our understanding of 13th century rule with the year specific, A.D. 1363, The End of Chivalry. We have Cutie and the Boxer helmer working in the fiction form with Hugh the Hunter and form the same vintage 2013 year, fellow feature film helmer Shaka King (director of Newlyweeds) turns in a short in Mulignans (see pic above). Michael Mohan who has been to Sundance with features One Too Many Dates and Save the Date, returns with Pink Grapefruit.

Crossing into the international shorts,...

There will be some Eloise and Lena Dunham, protests from Hong Kong, self-declared pop-ups from Canada, and unbelievable animated images of the final moments of a World War II hero. Those are just a few of the offerings among the 60 short films revealed today by the Sundance Film Festival. In the last of its four official announcements, the 31st annual Park City shindig rolled out an eclectic mix culled from the 8,061 submissions in the category that perhaps shows the true scope of Sundance most acutely.

The fest runs January 22-February 1. (As in past years, Deadline co-Editor-in-Chief, Film Mike Fleming Jr. and myself will be in Park City.)

Here is the full short films list:

U.S. Narrative Short Films

Actresses / U.S.A. (Director and screenwriter: Jeremy Hersh) — The film follows the relationship between a young, aspiring actress and an established off-Broadway star.

A.D. 1363, The End of Chivalry / U.