Law Abiding Citizen — a thriller shot here earlier this year and starring Jamie Foxx and Gerard Butler — will be the opening film at the 18½ Philadelphia International Film Festival.
Director F. Gary Gray is tentatively scheduled to attend the Oct. 15 screening at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater.
In LAC — which opens nationwide the next day — Butler plays a sociopath who exacts revenge on the DA who sprung the killers of his wife and daughter.
The festival’s closing film will be Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire (Oct. 19), directed by Philly-bred Lee Daniels. It won the Audience Award, the Grand Jury Award, and Special Jury Award at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, along with the People’s Choice Award at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. The gritty, Harlem-based story of Claireece Precious Jones stars Mo’Nique, Mariah Carrey, Paula Patton, Lenny Kravitz, Sherri Shepherd, and newcomer Gabourey Sidibe.
The festival’s slate includes 28 films from 14 countries. Also on the slate:
Good Hair. Comedian Chris Rock explores the wonders of African-American hairstyles; in particular, the obsession African American women have with straightening their hair. The film includes commentary from such actresses as Nia Long, Raven Symone, Lauren London, and Meagan Goode.
The Messenger. In a seaside Irish town, a widower sparks with a visiting horror novelist while he also begins to believe he is seeing ghosts.
Red Riding. The film is described as a series of three fictionalized accounts of the investigation into the Yorkshire Ripper, a brutal serial killer that stalked the Yorkshire area of England in the 1970s and 1980s.
Shadow Billionaire. After Larry Hillblom, founder of DHL, disappeared following a 1995 plane crash off his Micronesian island home, dozens of would be heirs came out of the woodwork to lay claim to his mega fortune.
We Live in Public. On the 40th anniversary of the Internet, We Live in Public tells the story of the effect the web is having on our society as seen through the eyes of “the greatest Internet pioneer you’ve never heard of,” visionary Josh Harris.