Pedro Almodóvar Presents Films That Inspired Him

Spanish director Pedro Almodovar will present a 25th Anniversary screening of his 1986 gay masterpiece, Law of Desire, and curate a program of other films that have inspired his work at the upcoming AFI FEST 2011 in Los Angeles.

Long revered as one of the world's great filmmakers, Almodovar currently has the acclaimed thriller The Skin I Live In playing in theaters. This latest film marks a reunion with Antonio Banderas, who also starred as an emotionally confused gay man in Law of Desire and had last worked with the Spanish director in 1990's Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down.

Besides the torrid Law Of Desire, Almodovar has personally selected the following films to showcase:

Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Cercle Rouge ensnares Alain Delon in an austere masterpiece about a Paris heist gone terribly wrong.

Georges Franju's haunting Eyes Without A Face offers Dr. Genessier (Pierre Brasseur), easily one of the greatest "mad doctors" in all of cinema, and an obvious influence on The Skin I Live In.

Robert Siodmak's thriller The Killers teams Ava Gardner with Burt Lancaster as an ex-boxer who can't outrun his fate.

Edmund Gouding's noir classic Nightmare Alley features mesmerizing performances by Tyrone Power as an ambitious carnival barker and Joan Blondell as a phony psychic.

"The films that Pedro Almodovar has selected for his program at AFI FEST exemplify what has always been clear in his work; that he is a passionate cinephile with a broad range of international influences," says Jacqueline Lyanga, festival director. "Almodovar's program is an extraordinary window into the artistic process, and we're privileged to have him share some of that experience with us by putting together this program and thus transporting us to to the intersection of influence, inspiration and innovation, where great art is made."

The festival runs November 3-10. For information, including locations and times for the Almodovar screenings, visit AFI.com/afifest.