Just two weeks after Carmaggedon II shut down a stretch of the 405 freeway, Westwood will experience another traffic jam ““ but this time for the sake of entertainment.
Tonight, the Bel-Air Film Festival will put on its first block party to celebrate the kickoff of the festival’s fifth consecutive year, bringing musical performances and international, independent films to the Bel-Air area. The red carpet block party will be held on Broxton Avenue between Le Conte and Weyburn avenues and will serve as the start of the four-day film festival that runs through Monday evening. The festival is free for college students.
Melody Storm, the creator of the festival, said she decided to start this event in 2008 as a way to promote film education and celebrate the Bel-Air community’s involvement in the entertainment industry.
“It was a very big undertaking at the time, and it really took off very well,” Storm said. “I thought something that could reward people and honor people would be the best way to go about my vision for the (Bel-Air Film Festival).”
When the festival first began back in 2008, it was held in private Bel-Air residences. Because of its tremendous growth over the years, the festival has sought out larger venues and reached out to the UCLA community as well.
The festival will consist of outdoor screenings during tonight’s block party as well as weekend shows at the UCLA James Bridges Theater. The festival will come to a close with a film finance panel at Showbiz Cafe, followed by the final film.
In order to determine which films would be shown, the festival accepted entries from filmmakers from all over the world. After receiving over 1,000 submissions, Storm said that the festival board members chose approximately 30 films to screen this year and made an effort to select brand-new films that have never been shown before or will be making their Los Angeles debut.
Christina Collard, one of the festival board members and a classically-trained actress, said that this process was lengthy, but ultimately resulted in the selection of films that fit the festival’s mission to promote up-and-coming artists and new productions.
“It was an arduous task of watching them all and deciding,” Collard said. “We try to have a fairly good mix across the board in terms of genres and styles.”
Tim Morgan, whose film “A Band of Rogues” will be premiering at the festival, said that he was excited that his musical film about a band of musicians that travels to Argentina was selected to be a part of this year’s exhibition.
“We didn’t really have much of a budget at all and we just decided to go and make a feature film,” Morgan said. “This type of festival is very encouraging to people my age and to students as well.”
Tonight’s block party is the newest addition to the festival and will include musical performances by DJs such as Sandra Collins as well as a screening of the documentary “Oakenfold 24/7,” which traces the life of DJ Paul Oakenfold. A large LED screen will be set up for the movie on one Westwood block, and a stage for the DJs will be located on the second block.
During the block party, the festival will also be honoring Jude Law, who has recorded a special message to be played during the event. Collard also said that Gavin Rossdale will be a special guest at the block party to introduce one of the films.
Collard, who is in her third year with the festival, said she would like to see this event gain recognition within the film world and hopes that more students will attend this year so that they can appreciate these brand-new films.
“I’d love to see it become more prominent within the industry so we have more people submitting and we can honor more talent,” Collard said. “Where would we be without the arts, really?”
aseikaly@media.ucla.edu