Walking past Broxton Avenue toward the Regent Theatre, one is welcomed by a line of moviegoers standing behind a miniature red carpet display in front of the theater’s entrance.
Volunteers welcome you inside handing you a ballot rating the film’s eligibility for an audience award, and as one waits for the movie to begin, the chatter of the audience creates an impending buzz behind what is about to happen. At once the lights dim, and the experience begins.
For 11 days beginning June 18, UCLA’s own Westwood Village became a haven for more than 200 films ranging from small independents and international documentaries to a preview of large summer showcases with the premier of both “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” and Johnny Depp’s “Public Enemies.”
Festival director Rebecca Yeldham said that the purpose of this year’s film festival was to satisfy and go beyond expectations.
“The festival helps to bring together and inspire the creative love of filmmaking by building a community,” Yeldham said.
She said that the festival took almost a year to put together and the cooperation of sponsors and Westwood venues to make it happen.
With more than 1,000 volunteers aiding in its operation, the festival had a mixture of a large-scale media frenzy to small intimate gatherings where audiences and fellow filmmakers were able to discuss camera angles, aesthetics and why it was so important that their films be shown.
Documentaries such as “Carmen Meets Borat” explored the controversy behind the filming of “Borat” in the small, impoverished Romanian town of Glot, which in the “Borat” film originally described it as Kazakhstan.
The film’s director Mercedes Stalenhoef explained in a Q&A session that the Borat production team told the town of Glot that they would be making a documentary. It was only afterward that the people of Glot realized that the movie portrayed them as rapists and abortionists.
Stalenhoef said she believed that filmmakers need to be honest and upfront about their intentions and that this is an example of the exploitation of poor non-English speaking people by powerful media corporations.
While the selection of more than 200 features represents the latest noteworthy projects in American and international cinema this year, films from festivals past continue to influence today’s discussion of the business.
This year, directors Sam Fleischner and Ben Chace announced their plans for a mobile screening of their narrative contest entry, “Wah Do Dem,” shot on location in Jamaica, since some of the featured villages do not have electricity, let alone a movie theater.
“Definitely. We are going back to Jamaica,” Fleischner told the audience during the Q&A session.
Suzi Yoonessi’s “Dear Lemon Lima,” was a frontrunner from the start. Yoonessi announced before the film’s second screening that a third showing would be added because of high audience demand and attempted to placate the crowd by offering her seat to anyone with a bad view.
“I’m sure I can get my mom to move, too,” Yoonessi said.
The films may be the centerpiece of this festival, but cast and crew’s antics, introductions, and quippy remarks served as a form of entertainment on their own.
Comedian Charlyne Yi left in the middle of the Q&A for her mockumentary “Paper Heart” to use the restroom; the same red coat and black ponytail came back, but on a man’s body. Director Nicholas Jasenovec continued the interview unflinchingly while the audience buzzed with laughter at Yi’s unconvincing stand-in.
Later, Yi performed an arrangement of songs at the ZonePerfect lounge where a trendy mix of interactive art and music provided an ambience for festival goers to rest between screenings and pick up free sponsored goodies like SmartWaters and nutrition bars.
The lounge provided a place for networking in which producers, actors, directors and film lovers were able to mix and mingle. Like the lounge, the village was alive with daytime film financing conferences and poolside chats with industry professionals. At night, restaurants and bars hosted film screening after parties and galas. It was enough to inspire a budding filmmaker to develop a project within those 11 days ““ especially if they found the right people.