L.A. Film Fest

The Sundance Film Festival held a party for its alumni filmmakers at the Figueroa Hotel in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday. Locals blended with others in town for the Los Angeles Film Festival, which moved to the downtown area last year. From left, "Right at Your Door" director Chris Gorak (Sundance '06), Sundance director of programming Trevor Groth, "We Live in Public" director Ondi Timoner (Sundance '09), and "Ballast" director Lance Hammer (Sundance '08).

L.A. Film Festival programmers huddled together after a flashy opening night. As the rooftop party came to a close, senior programmer Maggie McKay, artistic director David Ansen and associate programmer Doug Jones huddled together to celebrate the start of the ten day event. Guests included Steven Soderbergh, John Lithgow and Richard Linklater, whose new movie "Bernie" served as the opening film. Check out these prior participants in the Los Angles Film Festival, courtesy of SnagFilms [Disclaimer: SnagFilms is indiewire's parent company] Watch more free documentaries

Filmmakers Cathryn Collins (left), Aaron Schock, John Horn of the Los Angeles Times and director Jennifer Arnold speak at Filmmaker Lunch Talks: Documentary Roundtable, during the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival. [Photo courtesy of Wire Images for the Los Angeles Film Festival.]

Actor John Lithgow speaks onstage at "Over the Top: An Evening With John Lithgow" during the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival. [Photo courtesy of Wire Images for the Los Angeles Film Festival.]

Soldier Russel Baer, actor Josh Brolin and director Amir Bar-Lev arrive at the premiere of "The Tillman Story" at the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival. [Photo courtesy of Wire Images for the Los Angeles Film Festival.]

Radio personality Garth Trinidad (left) and Quincy Jones speak during "The Color Purple" screening at the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival. [Photo courtesy of Wire Images for the Los Angeles Film Festival.]

Elvis Mitchell (left) and actor Sylvester Stallone speak during "A Conversation with Sylvester Stallone" during the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival. [Photo courtesy of Wire Images for the Los Angeles Film Festival]

Directors Adam Shankman, Eli Roth, Richard Kelly, Jon Chu and moderator Ari Karpel speak onstage during "The Power of the Tweet!" panel discussion at the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival. [Photo courtesy of Wire Images for the Los Angeles Film Festival.]

Actress Kristin Stewart, James Gandolfini and Melissa Leo arrive at the premiere of Jake Scott's "Welcome to the Rileys" at the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival. [Photo courtesy of Wire Image for the Los Angeles Film Festival]

Actress Catherine Keener, director Thomas Napper, and producer Agi Orsi attend the "Lost Angels" Q&A at the downtown Regal Cinemas, during the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival. [Photo courtesy of Wire Image for the Los Angles Film Festival]

Director Whit Stillman ("Last Days of Disco") with producer and former Warner Independent exec Paul Federbush last weekend at a party hosted by the Texas Film Commission. The brunch promoting filming in the Lone Star state, and its 17.5% tax rebate, took place under a beautiful California sky at the famed Spago restaurant in Beverly Hills.

The Texas Film Commission touted its production incentives including a 17.5% tax incentive at a delicious brunch in Beverly Hills over the weekend at the famed Spago restaurant. Among those who came out to promote Texas was none other then actor Larry Hagman with a big cowboy hat. Hagman chatted with Bob Hudgins, who heads the organization.

Actor Christian Bale and his wife Sandra Sibi Blazic take a walk up the red carpet at the premiere of Michael Mann’s “Public Enemies,” which screened as the Centerpiece gala at the Los Angeles Film Festival here in Westwood on Tuesday night. Bale offers a great portrait of FBI agent Melvin Purvis as he pursues the notorious John Dillinger (played by Jonny Depp.) Bale contrasts remarkably with Depp's own very detailed performance.

Jonny Depp was like the second coming of the Beatles last night in Westwood for the premiere of Michael Mann's "Public Enemies," which screened as the Centerpiece gala at the Los Angeles Film Festival. After the arrival of his limos, Jonny and his entourage headed across the street to screaming crazed fans to sign autographs, then headed to another corner with screaming fans behind barricades (security had to hold back the barriers) and then it was back to the red carpet (laid out on the street no less) for interviews with Entertainment Tonight, Extra and E! before doing his shoot in front of the step and repeat. Not in view is a huge bleacher of screaming fans that a publicist told us had some adoring Deppers camping out overnight to secure a spot - now that's loyalty. iW sort of wiggled its way onto the red carpet before the screening to catch this photo from the side. Inside the Fox Theater in Westwood, director Michael Mann introduced the film and cast, including Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard before the two-and-a-half hour movie. And the result? Well, iW sat next to a very prominent critic who seemed to enjoy him/herself... And though it's not an "iW movie," we found it completely enjoyable - great acting.

The ghost of Johnny Cash made an appearance on Sunday night for the world premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival of Brent Meeske's documentary "Branson," which follows the strange world of strip-mall performers in Branson, Missouri where over 50 theaters host concerts, performances, and other family friendly acts to a million people a year. The highlight of the film is the dark struggle of Johnny Cash impersonator Jackson Cash, who fights chronic drug problems while trying to maintain his growing career evoking The Man in Black. Afterwards, Jackson did a rousing performance of Cash classics, including the Nine Inch Nails cover, "Hurt."

"These people are so dedicated and love the bees and I felt that needed to be the structure of the film," said Director Jeremy Simmons at the Q&A following the premiere of his documentary "The Last Beekeeper" at the Los Angeles Film Festival. "Bees may not be everyone's favorite thing. Bee's sting. If only we could make an emotional connection between us and the bees, everything would be alright," added veteran Producer Fenton Bailey, who produced the film with partner Randy Barbato ("Party Monster"). "The Last Beekeeper" follows the lives of three American beekeepers as they deal with a massive decline of the bee population in the United States due to unknown causes. (If the current decline continues, there will be no bees in the country in 2035.) The doc is screening in competition at LAFF. (From left to right) - Producer Randy Barbato, Director Jeremy Simmons, Beekeeper Nicole Ulibarri, and Producer Fenton Bailey.

"This movie is something that has been knocking around for four or five, maybe six years. At the time we wrote it we'd been sort of laboring in semi-obscurity as screenwriters for a while and we'd reached a point where we decided maybe enough was enough and we should quit and give up and go home. Our idea was we're going to move to Wales and open a small artisinal family cheese farm," joked Director Kieran Mulroney (with his filmmaking partner Michele Mulroney) at the opening night of the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival. "Before we did we actually decided to write one last script. We wrote the script that has become 'Paper Man.' It got found, it got read, and it got sort of embraced. While the tasty world of cheese is maybe poorer, we'd rather be here." Starring Jeff Daniels, Lisa Kudrow, Kieran Culkin, Ryan Reynolds and offering a breakout performance by actress Emma Stone, "Paper Man" follows a struggling writer who forms a strong friendship with an equally lonely teenager girl as he tries to give up his imaginary super hero friend and grow up. At the packed screening, new Festival Director Rebecca Yeldham also gave a thoughful shoutout to Rich Raddon, former LAFF Festival Director who stepped down last Fall, thanking him for his years of work in building up the festival. From left to right: Film Independent Executive Director Dawn Hudson, LAFF Festival Director Rebecca Yeldham, "Paper Man" Director Kieran Mulroney, Actress Emma Stone, and Director Michele Mulroney.

Hanging out at the Denver Film Festival's party in LA this week, celebrating this fall's Cinemocracy festival during the Democratic National Convention in Denver are "Frozen River" stars Misty Upham (left) and Melissa Leo (right). indieWIRE interviewed "Frozen River" director Courtney Hunt, prior to the filmmaker winning the Sundance Film Festival grand jury prize.

Chatting with IFC Entertainment president Jonathan Sehring at this week's IFC & Blockbuster party at the Sunset Marquis is Alex Holdridge, director of "In Search of a Midnight Kiss." Reviewing the film for indieWIRE at last year's Tribeca Film Festival, Howard Feinstein called it a "masterwork," calling it, "The story of a sad slacker and a troubled gal wandering through downtown L.A., it is an affectionate paean to the 'City of Angels'."

Actor Dustin Hoffman (right) was among the star-studded group of celebs (including Ryan Phillipe and Kevin Bacon) who saluted the festival's Spirit of Independence recipient Clint Eastwood. While Hoffman ribbed Eastwood for failing to cast Jewish actors in his films, naming Ben Stiller, Barbara Streisand, and others. On a more serious note, FIND's Dawn Hudson praised Eastwood as, "A great filmmaker who has followed his own path and tells his own unique stories."

Singer and painter Tony Bennett, subject of a new documentary produced by Clint Eastwood, presented Eastwood with his Spirit of Independence Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Bennett is pictured with Netflix/Red Envelope's Ted Sarandos, which is backing the documentary. Sarandos told indieWIRE that the film, which looks at Bennett's career spanning multiple eras of American music, will be finished this fall.

Calling the Los Angeles Film Festival, "a dream that's coming true," festival director Rich Raddon (pictured with Film Independent executive director Dawn Hudson at the Spirit of Independence event) enthused on stage at the growth of the event. saying, "People in this town are coming to realize that Los Angeles needs a world class film festival...we need it in our backyards." The festival concludes on Sunday, July 1st with a screening of Danny Boyle's "Sunshine."

Target Filmmaker Award winner Chris Eska ("August Evening," center) with producer Jason Wheling (left) and Magnolia's Tom Quinn, who served on the narrative feature jury. Quinn noted that, while it wasn't announced during the ceremony, the jury awarded a special mention to the ensemble cast of the film for their work. On stage during the program, Eska thanked Maya Releasing, Moctesuma Esparza's company which announced a deal for the film earlier this week at the Los Angeles Film Festival.

At the Los Angeles Film Festival's Spirit of Independence event at the Hammer Museum, Target Documentary Award winner Jennifer Venditti, director of "Billy The Kid" is pictured with John Larson from the Directors Guild of America. As a child, she noted that she was obsessed with people watching and "seeing cinema all around me." She added, "thank you for seeing what I saw in this film." And she thanked Target where, as a kid growing up in Minnesota, she said she bought Gloria Vanderilt Jeans and stuck a comb in the back pocket when going to the roler skating rink.

Personality-driven industry blogs have emerged as a key source of news, information and gossip delivering a steady stream of content throughout the day. "Bloggers never really stop working," noted Sasha Stone (far right), from the recently renamed Oscar-tracking site AwardsDaily.com (AMPAS clamped down on her previous URL, OscarWatch.com). Chatting poolside at the W Hotel alongside bloggers Jeffrey Wells (center left) of Hollywood-Elsewhere.com, Kate Coe (center right) from MediaBistro's Fishbowl LA, and Variety blogger Anne Thompson (far left) of Thompson on Hollywood, the group bemoaned the absence on the panel of often bitter rival bloggers like Nikki Finke from DeadlineHollywood Daily.com and David Poland of TheHotBlog.com and eventually looked ahead to the next 10 years of entertainment reporting and commentary online. Looking ahead ten years, Deputy Editor of Variety.com Anne Thompson declared, "There won't be any newspapers," while Jeff Wells added, "I just don't know how newspapers are going to survive," and Kate Coe concluded, "I think everything is going to be Twitter," touting the rise of citizen journlism being bigger than ever. [Eugene Hernandez]

One of the fest encounters that those involved with two Los Angeles Film Festival competition docs were excited about earlier this week was the meeting of Billy Price-Baker from Jennifer Venditti's "Billy The Kid" and Ron Holiday from Harris Fishman's "Cat Dancers." Billy later posed with director Spike Jonze after a screening, but he was particularly excited to meet Holiday after seeing the film at SXSW, where both films debuted in March. "Billy The Kid" is screening again today (Thursday) at LAFF, while "Cat Dancers" will be shown again on Sunday.

Fox Searchlight hosted a small after-party for George Ratliff's "Joshua," which screened as a Centerpiece premiere at the Los Angeles Film Festival Tuesday evening. The film, starring Sam Rockwell, Vera Farmiga and newcomer Jacob Kogan is a psychological thriller in which young Joshua (Kogan) devises the perfect plan to annihilate his young successful parents. Though there were good heapings of gasps from the audience during the screening, burst-out-loud laughter also could be heard throughout the cinema. "We felt like there's an anxiety between nervousness and laughter that we wanted to mine," said Ratliff (who co-wrote with David Gilbert) during a post-screening Q&A. "When my first son was born, I knew he was a good kid, but I couldn't help but think how scary it would be if you just had a bad kid for no reason." Kogan, who turned 11 when the film began shooting last year, said he saw another bad kid in a film which gave him inspiration for "Joshua." "A few weeks before the shoot, I saw 'The Good Son' with Macaulay Culkin. Both [characters] are very similar..." Pictured with Kogan is a playful Sam Rockwell as well as Ratliff and Fox Searchlight chief Peter Rice (far right) in LA's Westwood neighborhood.

Outside the Mann Festival Theater on Monday night, actor Shane West (pictured in white) poses for a photo following a Los Angeles Film Festival screening of Rodger Grossman's world premiere, "What We Do Is Secret." The story of infamous L.A. punk rocker Darby Crash of legendary band The Germs, Grossman's long-in-the-works project also stars Bijou Phillips (as Lorna Doom) who, along with West, sang Germs tunes for that film that were produced by former band member Pat Smear, later known for his work in Nirvana and Foo Fighters.

That strange looking blue character that has been roaming the streets of Westwood to promote Scott Prendergast's "Kabluey" was finally in the spotlight on Monday night at the Los Angeles Film Festival. It walked the red carpet at the party following the well-received world premiere of the film, which stars newcomer Prendergast who wrote, directed and stars in the film, alongside lead Lisa Kudrow. More on the film later this week in indieWIRE.

Saturday night after the Los Angeles Film Festival screening of "Interview," actor/director Steve Buscemi (center) joined friend Rob Schneider(to his left), the film's producer Bruce Weiss and co-writer David Schechter at Beverly Hills restaurant Camden House for a soiree celebrating the Sony Pictures Classics release. The sharp, funny story of a tug-of-war interview between a seasoned war correspondent (Buscemi) and a pretty young TV/B-movie actress (Sienna Miller) is a remake of the Theo Van Gogh film. Part of a trio of low-budget projects that Weiss had hoped to remake with Van Gogh working in English are all being directed by American actors. Buscemi's "Interview" (which debuted at Sundance) is the first of the series, with Stanley Tucci's "Blind Date" next up (aiming for an early '07 festival debut). The third film, producer Weiss told indieWIRE, will be "1-900" directed by John Turturro, in producton this year and aiming for a fest debut about a year from now. [Eugene Hernandez]

Maura Colorado, Lupe Hernandez, and Maria Pineda (left to right), subjects of "Made in LA," a new documentary about three Latina immigrants fighting against unfair wages and work conditions in the Los Angeles garment industry, were on hand for Saturday's emotional free community screening of the film at the Los Angeles Film Festival. Fresh from a world premiere at the recent Silverdocs festival in Maryland, the film stirred a standing ovation for the activists who battled apparel company Forever 21 for three years. Director, producer and cinematographer Almundena Carracedo and producer Robert Behar spent some four years funding the film with money from personal donors before securing financing from PBS' POV doc series. The film will air on television nationally the day after Labor Day -- Tuesday, September 4th -- with bilingual subtitles. [Eugene Hernandez]

Filmmaker Eli Roth ("Hostel") and SXSW Film Festival producer Matt Dentler (right) take part in afternoon cocktails in the Target Red Room in Westwood for LAFF, currently underway through Sunday. The space, which also has free wireless (which has become our de facto office) has Absolut drinks served from 6pm - 12am, attracting festival attendees looking for a bit of a wind down. And with cool people like Dentler and Roth hanging around, what else could be better?

"Gretchen" director Steve Collins and Austin Film Society head Rebecca Campbell hanging out one fine evening at the Red Room in Westwood during the Los Angeles Film Festival. Collins' film won the fest's narrative jury prize including 50,000 big ones in Cash.

Film Independent executive director Dawn Hudson, Academy Award-winner Charlize Theron and Oscar nominee Woody Harrelson at the Spirit of Independence ceremony Wednesday night at the W Hotel, which honored Theron for her achievement in the biz. Hudson explained that the honor was not a "career achievement award," but instead, a prize recognizing work and to encourage the honoree to "go out and do more." Harrelson presented the award, following an onstage interview with Theron moderated by NPR's Elvis Mitchell. Film Independent organizes the annual Los Angeles Film Festival, which presented jury awards to Steve Collins' "Gretchen" and Amy Berg's doc "Deliver Us From Evil."

Hollywood gave a thumbs up to the indies at the filmmakers' reception at the W Hotel Tuesday. Actor Harrison Ford gave a short but sweet speech poolside to the Los Angeles Film Festival's participating directors who greeted him excitedly. Ford encouraged the filmmakers to think outside the box, saying, "conventional wisdom produces conventional movies, and that's about the last thing we need more of right now." Ford is serving as one of four honorary co-chairs at this year's festival.

Former HBO exec Julie Anderson (right) took on a doc with her latest effort, "Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater," which is having its LA premiere at LAFF. Joining Anderson are the film's producers Tani Cohen and CC Goldwater (left), granddaughter of the subject, Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona.

In the festival's Red Room, decorated in Target red and white, the team from "Undoing" gather for a shot. Joining the photo are director Chris Chan Lee (center), actor/producer Sung Kang (left), associate producer Cynthia Hong (right) and producer Karin Chien. Their film, which is set in Los Angeles' Koreatown neighborhood, is having its world debut at LAFF.

Hanging out poolside at the W Hotel in Westwood waiting for Harrison Ford at the Filmmaker's Reception at LAFF, Ben Piety (director), Scott Uhfelder (DP) and producer Jon Jones. The trio are attending the festival with their music video "Stickin' Around" by Heathens. They also recently relocated to LA.

Socializing at the SAGIndie party in Westwood Sunday afternoon, Los Angeles Film Festival director Rich Raddon takes in a chat with producer Effie Brown ("Everyday People").

The folks from Los Angeles Film Festival film "Islander" threw quite an afternoon bash Sunday ahead of the screening for their film in Westwood. New England lobster was on the menu including the one pictured here held by star/co-writer/producer Thomas Hildreth. Also joining in on the photo were co-writer/director Ian McCrudden and "Islander" star Amy Jo Johnson.

Line up, it's photo call time! Outside Tengu restaurant in Westwood for the SAGIndie party, actors Elliott Gould, Debi Mazar ("Entourage"), Jason Lee ("Clerks II"), Ilyanne Kichaven (Hollywood executive director at SAG), Paul Bales (SagIndie executive director) and actor Eddie Izzard ("Ocean's Twelve").

"I feel like I'm in an episode of 'Entourage,'" said one indie producer after seeing Adrian Grenier at the after party for "The Devil Wears Prada," which opened the Los Angeles Film Festival Thursday. Grenier, who stars in the film, was very Vincent-esque as he posed for photos and chatted with fans and press. Actually, he was very friendly, though we remember him most fondly from a few years ago at the Woodstock Film Festival where he and a friend took full advantage of a pool at a party. Not a bad sight to behold...

We ran into a rather cool crowd while exiting the Mann Village theater in Westwood Thursday night following the Los Angeles Film Festival's opening night screening of "The Devil Wears Prada." Strand Releasing co-president Marcus Hu (right) took us over to meet French filmmaker Francois Ozon (left) who was hanging out with actress Paker Posey and fellow director Gregg Araki. Ozon is attending LAFF with his latest, "Time to Leave," which Strand is releasing in the U.S. July 14th.

Filmmakers and industry mixed at the after party for LAFF's opening night film, "The Devil Wears Prada" (David Frankel) outdoors in Westwood Thursday night. Among the attendees were William Morris' Craig Kestel (who was also in the area the night before for the "Superman" premiere) and "Half Nelson" director Ryan Fleck and co-writer/editor/producer Anna Boden. Both Fleck and Boden touted LAFF's Filmmaker Retreat, which they attended prior to the fest's opening, which took place at George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch in Marin, CA. ThinkFilm opens "Half Nelson," which premiered in January at Sundance in August.