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Echo in the Canyon[/caption]
The World Premiere of the documentary Echo in the Canyon by Andrew Slater, which features some of music’s biggest names reflecting on the sustained influence of Laurel Canyon’s historic music scene, will be the Opening Night film of the 2018 LA Film Festival, followed by a live performance. The festival also announced today the titles in Premieres section, the Future Filmmakers Showcase, the Music Video program and the Indie Pilot program.
“I’m so proud to be opening the Festival with a love song to Los Angeles via Andrew Slater’s Echo in the Canyon,” said Jennifer Cochis, Festival Director. “We are committed to showcasing documentaries, and premiering this work at the Ford Theatres to be followed by a live musical performance is going to be a once in a lifetime experience.”
Opening Night Film
Thursday, September 20, the Ford Theatres
Echo in the Canyon, dir. Andrew Slater, USA, World Premiere
Echo in the Canyon is a look at how The Byrds, The Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, The Mamas & the Papas birthed the beginnings of the Laurel Canyon music scene and how the echo of these artists’ creations reverberated between each other and ultimately across the world with a timelessness that continues today. With appearances by Tom Petty, Brian Wilson, Stephen Stills, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Michelle Phillips, Jackson Browne, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Roger McGuinn, John Sebastian, Lou Adler, Jakob Dylan, Norah Jones, Beck, Regina Spektor, Cat Power, and others. The film was executive produced by Jakob Dylan.
Premieres
World and US Premieres of fiction and documentary films featuring noteworthy talent.
American Dreamer, dir. Derrick Borte, USA, World Premiere
Ashes in the Snow, dir. Marius A. Markevicius, Lithuania/USA, World Premiere
Brian Banks, dir. Tom Shadyac, USA, World Premiere
The Chaperone, dir. Michael Engler, USA, World Premiere
The Clovehitch Killer, dir. Duncan Skiles, USA, World Premiere
Good Girls Get High, dir. Laura Terruso, USA, World Premiere
Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl, dir. Amy Goldstein, USA, World Premiere
Ride, dir. Jeremy Ungar, USA, World Premiere
Tea With the Dames, dir. Roger Michell, UK, US Premiere
We Have Always Lived in the Castle, dir. Stacie Passon, USA, US Premiere
Music Videos
Celebrating the marriage of music and visuals in these groundbreaking works.
Apartment, dir. Ellis Bahl, USA
Art in Motion, dir. Hayk Matevosyan, USA, World Premiere
Bones, dir. Hunter Brumfield, USA
Camisa Al Reves, dir. Andrew Vasquez, USA
Clutch, dir. Christopher Ripley, USA
Dis Generation, dir. Hiro Murai, USA
Dreams, dir. Elliott Sellers & Erik Ferguson, USA
Found, dir. rubber.band, USA
Half a Million, dir. Lamar + Nik, USA
Hard World, dir. Mike Hollingsworth, USA
Heart Attack, dir. Mimi Cave, USA
Indie, dir. Angel Kristi Williams, USA
I Want You, dir. NORTON, USA
Land of the Fairies, dir. Amiel Kestenbaum, Israel
Lost Angeles, dir. Evanston Moore, USA
Loving is Easy, dir. Chris Ullens, United Kingdom
My Way, dir. WATTS., USA
Pleader, dir. Isaiah Seret, United Kingdom
Side by Side, dir. Bohdan Zajcenko, Czech Republic
Terraform, dir. Sil van der Woerd & Jorik Dozy, Spain
True Love Waits, dir. Adi Halfin, Israel
Future Filmmakers Showcase: High School Shorts
Made by incredibly accomplished high school filmmakers from across the country and globe, 43% of the short films in this diverse slate are directed by young women and 47% are directed by filmmakers from diverse backgrounds.
Indie Pilots
In this section, each pilot stands on its own and navigates the full hour of an episodic show. Storytellers bring an independent sensibility to these original series.
2 Kawaii 4 Comfort, co-dirs., Luke Palmer, John Bickerstaff, USA
40 And Single, dir, Leila Djansi, USA/Ghana
Mulligan, dir, Steve Parys, USA
Read more
DESTROYER Starring Nicole Kidman[/caption]
The 27th Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival (SLIFF) will run November 1 to 11, and screen 413 films: 88 narrative features, 77 documentary features, and 248 shorts. The fest also will feature 14 special-event programs, including the closing-night awards presentation.
The festival will kick off on Thursday, November 1, with the local premiere of “Destroyer,” directed by former St. Louisan Karyn Kusama, who will attend the screening.
SLIFF will present the usual array of fest buzz films and Oscar contenders, including “3 Faces,” “Ash Is Purest White,” “Ben Is Back,” “Boy Erased,” “Capernaum,” “The Captain,” “The Chaperone,” “Cold War,” “Destroyer,” “Diane,” “Dogman,” “Everybody Knows,” “The Front Runner,” “Green Book,” “If Beale Street Could Talk,” “The Image Book,” “Little Woods,” “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” “Mapplethorpe,” “Non-Fiction,” “Shoplifters,” “Support the Girls,” “Transit,” “Vox Lux,” “Widows,” “Wildlife,” and “Zama.”
The festival will honor seven significant film figures with the annual awards: Joe Edwards and John Goodman with Lifetime Achievement Awards; Jason Reitman with a Contemporary Cinema Award
Jim Finn, Jane Gillooly, and Karyn Kusama with Charles Guggenheim Cinema St. Louis Awards; and Melanie Mayron with a Women in Film Award.
As part of the fest’s ongoing response to the Ferguson uprising, SLIFF again will feature a major stream of programming entitled Race in America: The Black Experience and offer a third edition of Mean Streets: Viewing the Divided City Through the Lens of Film and Television, which addresses the persistent issue of segregation.