And the festival's biggest star? L.A.

At a time when even the biggest movie stars are having a hard time tempting audiences into theaters, organizers of this year's AFI Fest opted for banners simply inviting locals to "See a film." Director of festivals Christian Gaines and newly appointed artistic director Rose Kuo are optimistic that the less-is-more approach will work thanks to the eclectic lineup they've assembled for the event.

World cinema and prestige pictures will share the spotlight with smaller projects set in and around Los Angeles -- the goal, festival architects say, is to appeal to a broad range of film lovers, from industry insiders to casual fans.

AFI Fest will unspool over the next 10 days at Hollywood's ArcLight Cinemas and opens Thursday night with a gala screening of Robert Redford's "Lions for Lambs," featuring Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep and Redford in above-the-title roles. "Love in the Time of Cholera," adapted from Gabriel Garcia Marquez's landmark novel, will serve as the closing night film Nov. 11, with indie comedy "Juno," about a young woman dealing with an unplanned pregnancy, screening Monday as the festival's centerpiece.

Films set in Los Angeles -- covering an expanse of topics from the history of Hollywood to the way we live now -- appear throughout the festival. Among them, "Southland Tales," an alternate-reality fable set amid the beaches and underpasses of L.A., will have its first hometown unveiling, while "Expired," a bittersweet look at the love lives of L.A. traffic cops, boasts another deeply committed performance from Samantha Morton.

On the documentary side, there is "Hollywood Chinese," Arthur Dong's examination of the representation of Asians on film, as well as the short "Kids + Money," photographer Lauren Greenfield's look at the relationship local young people of varying economic strata have to their money.

Although many festivals divide their selections into such sections as "American Independent" or "International Spotlight," the programmers behind this year's AFI Fest grouped a healthy portion of the screenings under "World Cinema" in a nod to internationalization and globalization.

"It's also an effort to avoid the bifurcation of the film industry," said Kuo, who joined AFI Fest this year. " 'World Cinema' includes 'American Showcase.' The idea is that films about L.A. are part of international cinema. International Cinema includes the entire world, which means America too. It's not American films versus world cinema."