S03E04 - Califorgilicious At AFI FEST 2025

Inside AFI Fest 2025: My Califorgilicious Dive Into Hollywood’s Heart

This year I stepped into my very first film festival — not just any festival, but AFI Fest, the crown jewel of Los Angeles film culture. What I expected was a handful of screenings and a lot of standing in line. What I got instead was a full immersion into Hollywood’s bloodstream: red carpets, Q&As, industry conversations, and a surprising number of strangers assuming I was a film director.

AFI Fest has history. Founded in 1967, the American Film Institute shaped legends like David Lynch, Darren Aronofsky, and Patty Jenkins. But seeing it in action at the TCL Chinese Theatre, surrounded by industry people and buzzing audiences, felt electric.

I dove in with a Patron Pass - highly recommended unless you enjoy stress - and began zigzagging through films, lounges, and premieres. My highlights? Bugonia by Yorgos Lanthimos, an abduction-tinged fever dream anchored by Emma Stone; Christy, the powerful Sidney Sweeney-led biopic of Christy Martin; and the unexpected humor of Jim Jarmusch’s Father Mother Sister Brother. Even George Clooney dropped Hollywood gossip during the J. Kelly Q&A, including a Brad Pitt shoe-size story.

There were moments that shocked me (Chronology of Water), moments that confused me (Orphan), and moments that reminded me why cinema matters. Between screenings, the festival lounge became my social playground - a place where professors, filmmakers, and total weirdos like me talked movies, aging, identity, and storytelling.

AFI Fest wasn’t just a festival. A reminder that movies still bring people together - to laugh, question, feel, and sometimes lie about directing eight films.

Would I go again? Absolutely. And next time, maybe I’ll even know where the after party is.

The director of “A Useful Ghost” with the haunted vacuum cleaner.