Now in its second year in Westwood, the Los Angeles Film Festival, which opened June 21 and runs until July 1, has more to offer than just films and popcorn. Film watchers and filmmakers, Westwood theaters and other local establishments can get involved in the festivities.
“We’ve really begun to develop a relationship with the businesses in the village,” said Rich Raddon, the festival director. “We know the restaurants better and we created a passport system where participants can get certain discounts depending on where they eat.”
Events that local business have sponsored included a SKATE tournament on June 23 in which skaters had to perfrom a trick that all the participants must also complete lest they receive a letter, eventually spelling “Skate,” which would eliminate them from the competition. This event commemerated Active Ride Shop’s new Westwood location.
This year the festival has really broken out of the theaters and into the streets through the advent of the Promenade on Broxton Avenue, a new feature that allows moviegoers to mingle and relax in an outdoor lounge and enjoy the festival’s free offerings, such as concerts, select screenings and promotional events.
Upcoming events at the Promenade include a jump rope performance and workshop June 30 that will happen in conjunction with a free screening of “Jump!,” a documentary about six teams preparing for the USA Jump Rope Nationals.
Yet despite all of the complementary entertainment, filmmakers feel that the patrons are still not the ones who get the best treatment at the festival. Participating filmmakers recieve a wide range of benefits beyond valuable networking and Hollywood-style pampering.
“The festival has a reputation for treating filmmakers the best,” UCLA alumnus and festival participant Chris Eska said. “There’s a retreat at George Lucas’ ranch with a bunch of industry professionals and, not to be crass, but (the festival) has the largest cash prize.”
Eska, who graduated UCLA in 2003 with an MFA in directing from the School of Theater Film and Television will premiere his first feature film, “August Evening” in the narrative competition in hopes of winning the $50,000 prize given with the Target Filmmaker Award.
“These films are made for almost no budget but (the festival) brings the indie film to the attention of studios and big production companies,” Eska said.
“It’s an interesting example of what a festival can be; it’s about as truly American independent as you can get.”
While certain aspects of the festival, such as the large cash prizes, set it apart from the countless other nationwide and worldwide festivals, some of its other programs are very much in tune with the many of the other both small and large film festivals out there.
The Fast Track program, for example, shadows other film festival programs such as the Tribeca Film Festival’s All-Access program, which were both created to help filmmakers finance their next films. Fast Track chooses 10 films that need funding to begin or continue production. These films then become eligible for “speed dating,” when the filmmakers pitch their story to potential investors in as little as 15 minutes.
UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television alumnus Aldo Velasco has a film in production, “Super Macho,” about a geeky Chicano musician who discovers his inner machismo. “Super Macho” has the opportunity to join the ranks of former Fast Track films, such as “Kabluey” which was in the Fast Track program in 2005 and will premiere at this year’s festival on June 25.
“To get money is hard; it’s already incredibly difficult to get a film off the ground,” said Velasco, who also participated in Tribeca’s All-Access program earlier this year. “If this didn’t exist, I would have to do it all on my own [and] being in the program already elevates me because it gives me credibility and puts me in a showcase.”
No matter what stage of production the film is in, the festival provides artists with on opportunity to see their visions realized, whether it be showing their films to a large audience or to get an advantageous meeting with studio executives.
Between building strong relationships with locals, festival attendees or the filmmakers themselves, the Los Angeles Film Festival seems to be leaving its mark on both the Westwood community and the Los Angeles film community as a whole.
“The ultimate goal is to connect filmmakers to an audience but along with that we also shepherd filmmakers and help them all year long,” Raddon said. “The festival is just a culmination of that.”