Film Independent Finds Theatre Hub for its LA Film Festival

Cheers to Film Independent which has finally abandoned its downtown experiment for summer’s LA Film Festival in favor of a new home with LA’s most successful theaters, ArcLight Cinemas, spread around the city, in different neighborhoods.

Non-profit Film Independent, which produces the Film Independent Spirit Awards as well as the Festival, will mount the 22nd edition of the LA Film Festival (June 1 – June 9, 2016) at ArcLight Cinemas, including popular ArcLight Hollywood and the brand new ArcLight Santa Monica. The Festival headquarters will be at ArcLight Culver City. 

 

Under the leadership of Stephanie Allain, the LA Film Festival has been pursuing a mission to showcase diversity and innovation, with mixed results in attendance so far. Having lost veteran programmers David Ansen (now at the Palm Springs Film Festival), Maggie McKay (now at Aspen) and Doug Jones (running a theater in Williamstown, MA), Allain is promoting protege Roya Rastegar to Director of Programming, and is bringing on Jennifer Cochis as Creative Director. Elvis Mitchell continues to conduct Q & As at Film Independent’s LACMA film series. 

“Thanks to the efforts of the programming team this past year, 40% of the feature films in the Festival were directed by women and over 30% were directed by filmmakers of color,” Allain stated. “Celebrating the city of Los Angeles is a central part of the Festival’s mission and thanks to our new partnership, we’re delighted to bring our discoveries to an ArcLight near you. The 2016 call for submissions is now open!”

 

The early deadline for LA Film Festival submissions is November 20, the official deadline is December 14, and the late deadline is January 15, 2016.