The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episodic television and panel conversations.
The LA Film Festival was a qualifying festival in all categories for the Independent Spirit Awards, and also a qualifying festival for the short films categories of the Academy Awards.
History
Since 2001, it had been run by the non-profit Film Independent, which since 1985 has also produced the annual Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica. The festival began as the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival in 1995. The LAIFF ran for six years until it was absorbed into Film Independent in 2018.Olsen, Mark. (31 October 2018). L.A. Film Festival to shut down after 18 years as Film Independent shifts focus to broader range of events. Los Angeles Times The first LAIFF took place over the course of five days in a single location: the historic Raleigh Studios in Hollywood. In 1996, the LAIFF expanded to include the Directors Guild of America Building in Hollywood. In 2001, the festival became part of the organization Film Independent (formerly IFP/West). In 2006, the Los Angeles Times became the festival's main media sponsor.
In 2010, the festival moved to the Regal Cinemas at the L.A. Live complex in downtown Los Angeles, with additional screenings at several other downtown venues including the Downtown Independent, the Orpheum Theatre, and the REDCAT Theatre. The Festival also has a long tradition of screenings at the open-air John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood. Free screenings were scheduled at California Plaza, in conjunction with Grand Performances and FIGat7th.
In 2016, the LA Film Festival moved to the ArcLight Cinemas in Culver City and Hollywood. In 2017, it expanded to ArcLight Cinemas in Santa Monica. In 2018, the LA Film Festival further expanded and added the WGA Theater as a venue. It also partnered with the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts to screen films there.
Features
Over the course of nine days, the festival screened nearly 200 features, shorts, and episodes. The event also included world premieres of films, a variety of panels, seminars, and free screenings. The festival screened short films created by high school students as a part of the Future Filmmakers program. Films submitted to the festival were reviewed by Film Independent's programming department, which evaluated each film.
Notable screenings and debuts Sidewalks of New York, directed by Ed Burns Things Behind the Sun, directed by Allison Anders With a Friend Like Harry, directed by Dominik Moll The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, directed by David Slade
Guest directors +2001Ang Lee2002Alfonso Cuaron2003Chen Kaige2004Mira Nair2005Sydney Pollack2006George Lucas2007Curtis Hanson2008Melvin Van Peebles2010Kathryn Bigelow2011Guillermo del Toro2012William Friedkin2013David O. Russell2014Lisa Cholodenko2015Rodrigo Garcia2016Ryan Coogler2017Miguel Arteta
Artists in residence +2003Kasi Lemmons2004Neil Young2005RZA2007Pharrell Williams2009Thom Mayne2009Khaled Hosseini2010Quincy Jones2010Jonathan Gold2010Paul Reubens2012Danny Elfman2012Michael Voltaggio2012Raphael Saadiq
Spirit of Independence Award Recipients +2005George Clooney2006Charlize Theron2007Clint Eastwood2008Don Cheadle2013David O. Russell2014Michael Barker2014Tom Bernard2015Lily Tomlin2016Ava DuVernay2017Miguel Arteta
Awards Awards were given out in the following categories at the conclusion of the festival: US Fiction Documentary World Fiction Nightfall Short Fiction Short Documentary Audience Award for Best Fiction Film Audience Award for Best Documentary Film Audience Award for Best Episodic Story Audience Award for Best Short Film
References
External links (Film Independent)