The Los Angeles Film Festival is one of the few major festivals that go down within the confines of my fair city. Which is odd, considering that we’re the movie capital of the world. Oh well. The lineup for this summer’s iteration of the festival has been released. It’s a pretty good slate of movies – I’m an idiot and can’t seem to figure out where the full synopses of these films are, so I can’t discern in detail how promising it is. I may or may not be going – it all depends on what the slate is for this year’s Silverdocs, which runs the same week as LAFF.
Today the Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by Film Independent, in conjunction with Presenting Media Sponsor the Los Angeles Times and Host Partner L.A. LIVE, announced its official US and international selections. Fox Searchlight Pictures’ The Way, Way Back, written and directed by Oscar winners Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, will serve as the Closing Night film for the 2013 Festival… Also announced are the Festival’s Gala screenings, which include Ryan Coogler’s award winning Fruitvale Station from The Weinstein Company and the North American premiere of Nicholas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives from RADiUS-TWC. Now in its nineteenth year, the Festival showcases the best in new American and international cinema and is produced by Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization that also produces the Film Independent Spirit Awards and Film Independent at LACMA film series.
The 2013 Los Angeles Film Festival, which returns to downtown Los Angeles at L.A. LIVE for a fourth year and runs from Thursday, June 13 to Sunday, June 23, will screen a diverse slate of nearly 200 feature films, shorts and music videos, representing more than 40 countries, along with signature programs such as the Filmmaker Retreat, Music in Film Nights at The GRAMMY Museum at L.A. LIVE, Poolside Chats, Master Classes and more. Previously announced, filmmaker David O. Russell will serve as Guest Director and will receive the Spirit of Independence Award. Also confirmed were two Master Classes with Artists in Residence Maya Rudolph and Gustavo Santaolalla, “An Evening With Costa-Gavras,” including the US premiere of his new film Capital, and an “In Conversation” with playwright/filmmaker David Mamet and actor/stage magician/author Ricky Jay. Opening the Festival will be the North American premiere of Pedro Almodóvar’s I’m So Excited!…
More Special Screenings and Programs will be announced in the coming weeks.
Narrative Competition
• All Together Now, Alexander Mirecki – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
• Forev, Molly Green, James Leffler – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
• Forty Years From Yesterday, Robert Machoian, Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
• Four Dogs, Joe Burke – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
• Goodbye World, Denis Henry Hennelly – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
• The House That Jack Built, Henry Barrial – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
• I.D., Kamal K M – India – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
• Mother, I Love You, Janis Nords – Latvia – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
• My Sister’s Quinceañera, Aaron Douglas Johnston – USA – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
• Pollywogs, Karl Jacob – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
• Winter in the Blood, Andrew Smith, Alex Smith – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
• Workers, Jose Luis Valle – Mexico/Germany – US PREMIERE
Documentary Competition
• All of Me, Alexandra Lescaze – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
• American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs, Grace Lee – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
• Code Black, Ryan McGarry – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
• The Island of Saint Matthews, Kevin Jerome Everson – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
• Llyn Foulkes: One Man Band, Christopher Quilty, Tamar Halpern – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
• My Stolen Revolution, Nahid Persson Sarvestani – Sweden – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
• The New Black, Yoruba Richen – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
• Rain, Olivia Rochette, Gerard-Jan Claes – Belgium – US PREMIERE
• Tapia, Eddie Alcazar – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
• Purgatorio, Rodrigo Reyes – Mexico/USA – US PREMIERE
International Showcase
• The Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer, Christine Cynn – Denmark/Norway/UK (Drafthouse Films)
• Black Out, Eva Webber – UK – NORTH AMERCAN PREMIERE
• Boxing Day, Bernard Rose – UK
• Dormant Beauty, Marco Bellocchio – Italy
• Drug War, Johnnie To – China
• Ernest & Celestine, Stéphanie Aubier, Vincent Patar, Benjamin Renner – France (Gkids)
• The Expedition to the End of the World, Daniel Dancik – Denmark
• The Fifth Season, Peter Brosens, Jessica Woodworth – Belgium/Netherlands/France
• House with a Turret, Eva Meymann – Ukraine
• The Moo Man, Andy Heathcote, Heike Bachelier – UK
• Nobody’s Daughter Haewon, Hong Sang-soo – Korea – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
• The Patience Stone, Atiq Rahimi – Afghanistan/France/Germany/UK (Sony Pictures Classics)
• Wadjda, Haifaa Al Mansour – Saudi Arabia/United Arab Emirates/Germany (Sony Pictures Classics)
• When I Saw You, Annemarie Jacir – Palestine/Jordan/Greece/United Arab Emirates/USA
• The Women and the Passenger, Valentina Mac-Pherson, Patricia Correra – Chile – US PREMIERE
Summer Showcase
• Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, David Lowery – USA (IFC Films)
• Brothers Hypnotic, Reuben Atlas – Netherlands/USA
• Casting By, Tom Donahue – USA (HBO Films)
• Concussion, Stacie Passon – USA (RADiUS-TWC)
• The Crash Reel, Lucy Walker – USA (HBO Films)
• Crystal Fairy, Sebastián Silva – Chile (IFC Films)
• Europa Report, Sebastián Cordero – USA (Magnolia Pictures/Magnet Releasing) – US PREMIERE
• First Cousin Once Removed, Alan Berliner – USA (HBO Films)
• Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction, Sophie Huber – Switzerland
• In a World…, Lake Bell – USA (Roadside Attractions)
• Our Nixon, Penny Lane – USA
• Our Vinyl Weighs A Ton, Jeff Broadway – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
• Short Term 12, Destin Daniel Cretton – USA
• The Spectacular Now, James Ponsoldt – USA
• Venus Vs., Ava DuVernay – USA (ESPN) – WORLD PREMIERE
Community Screenings
• Brasslands, Adam Pogoff, Jay Sterrenberg, Bryan Chang – USA – FIGat7th Screening
• Dazed and Confused (1993), Richard Linklater – USA – 20th Anniversary Screening – FIGat7th Screening
• Hairspray (1988), John Waters – USA – Grand Park Dance-A-Long – 25th Anniversary Screening
• Inequality for All, Jacob Kornbluth – USA – Grand Performances Screening
• Life of a King, Jake Goldberger – USA– Project Involve Screening – WORLD PREMIERE
The Beyond
• Delivery, Brian Netto – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
• Lesson of the Evil, Takashi Miike – Japan – US PREMIERE
• You’re Next, Adam Wingard – USA (Lionsgate)
Retro
• Amarcord (1973), Federico Fellini – Italy – 40th Anniversary Screening
• Between Two Worlds (2009), Vimukthi Jayasundara – Sri Lanka/France – LAFCA’s The Film That Got Away
• Two Men in Manhattan (1958), Jean Pierre-Melville – France (Cohen Media Group) – 55th Anniversary Screening
