The LA INDIE FILM FESTIVAL kicks off on Friday September 7 and runs through September 13, 2012, at the LOS FELIZ 3 CINEMA (1822 N.Vermont Ave.) in Los Angeles, California. The LA INDIE Film Festival is the partner festival of the well-established LA Comedy Festival.
The Documentaries screening at the festival include the West Coast Premiere of BETTIE PAGE REVEALS ALL, an intimate look at the rise, fall, and rise again of one of the world’s most recognized and controversial sex symbols. With her razor sharp wit and Tennessee twang Page emerges from decades of seclusion to reveal her secret past.
The LA premiere of THE DEVIL AND THE DEATH PENALTY chronicles the current dysfunction within the California death penalty process by examining the case of Lawrence Bittaker, a convicted serial rapist and murderer who has been on San Quentin’s Death Row since 1981.
How can you have 5,000 friends on Facebook, and still feel alone? is the provocative question posed by FACE 2 FACE, a feature-length documentary that follows the 11,000-mile cross-country adventure of award-winning filmmaker, Katherine Brooks, as she travels the country journeying into the homes and lives of 50 strangers that are her facebook friends.
Rounding out the documentaries are MY WAY following the antics of the all girl band, The Rebekah Starr Band, as they travel cross country on their way to seeking fame in Hollywood. FREE CHINA: THE COURAGE TO BELIEVE examines human rights in China through the eyes of a Communist Party member and a Chinese American businessman who are persecuted for their spiritual beliefs. And WHO BOMBED JUDY BARI? focuses on the car bombing in May 1990 and its aftermath of Earth First Activists, Judy Bari and Darryl Cheney. The FBI arrested them for bombing themselves. Seven years later, dying of cancer after having survived the bombing, Bari gives her deathbed deposition in a lawsuit against the authorities and as she testifies, the movie flashes back to the colorful actions and antics of Earth First! she depicts. “…The kind of plot worthy of a Hollywood headliner… distinctly American, and distinctly compelling.”–Washington Life Magazine
Among the features is a stellar production of THE TRAGEDY OF MACBETH making its US premiere. Amazon UK declares it “a fantastic version.” JUAN IN A MILLION, from Chile, follows a young man when he wakes up on December 17th, 2012 to find the entire city of Santiago empty, why was he left behind? BOOSTER makes its LA premiere after successful screenings and winning the Jury prize for performance at SXSW. It is a crime story focused on the loyalty between brothers featuring a terrific cast headed by Seymour Cassell.
Ireland brings us, COME ON EILEEN, in its West Coast Premiere, follows one summer, mother and ex dancer, Eileen, relapses into alcoholism as she starts a new relationship. We watch as she and her family combust. From the UK, based on the true British rock and roll hoax of 2004, the comedy VINYL tells how washed-up rocker Johnny Jones hoodwinks top record labels, radio DJs and the entire rock music world by releasing his new punk rock single under a fictitious teenage band’s name…now he just needs to recruit a rowdy group of kids and teach them true punk rock spirit!
There are also eleven short program blocks featuring a wide range of genres and styles of filmmaking. In the mix are many premiering and multi-award winning films. Fresh from Comic Con is the multi-racial Western 6GUN and by way of Cannes comes the Russian short, FOREVER AFTER, about a mysterious alien phenomenon.
There are such incredible gems in this lineup, like THE PARACHUTE BALL set during World War II on a secluded farm in Kent, two elderly ladies are unexpectedly called to duty one night when they discover an unconscious German pilot hanging from his parachute in their tree. CROQUEMBOUCHE focuses on a couple hosting a private dinner for four in the early 50’s. One of the guests turns out to be a woman the hostess had an affair with during the Second World War. LIFE ACCORDING TO PENNY, follows a teenage girl that has less than twenty-four hours to free herself and a mentally challenged friend from the Girls’ Home where they are held captive by a sadistic psychiatrist. Penny must draw on all her faith, wits, and courage to bring down a giant and risk everything for one last chance at freedom. THE DARKNESS IS CLOSE BEHIND continues the theme of the teenager in peril, where a teenage boy anxiously watches over his meth cook father and his little brother – but his vigilance is wearing thin.
Not to be missed is the comedy thriller WE THINK NATE TORRENCE IS DEAD. By using only video footage retrieved from an abandoned cell phone, this 23 minute short film chronicles the last 24 hours of actor Nate Torrence before his disappearance in rural Colorado. It leaves the audience assuming only one possible outcome… we think Nate Torrence is dead. And delight in the Australian Production Designers Award winning animated short film, THE CARTOGRAPHER which will suck you into a beautiful world of mystery and intrigue. There are over 70 other dramatic, scary, thrilling short films. Each block is programmed carefully to offer a wide span of storytelling styles. And of course comedies are screened throughout!
LA INDIE FILM FESTIVAL runs every night from September 7-13.