Los Angeles Film Festival
The Los Angeles Film Festival is one of the most extravagant annual events of the whole of United States of America. The festival is one of the most looked for events for anyone who is linked to the world of performing arts.
The festival was started in 1995 on a modest platform. Over the past twelve years, the festival has managed to garner interest across all the major entertainment industries on the planet. LA film festival is a 10 day event which starts every year in the month of June. This year the festival was held from June 22nd to July 2nd. The festival this year screened 175 pieces of work from various cinema producers. More then 3000 submissions were received by the festival selection committee. Don’t expect to see the latest Hollywood blockbuster commercial movies at the festival alone. The movies shown are selected based on parameters other then box office collection. The festival showcases full length feature films, short films and documentaries and even music videos. This year about 75 full length feature films, 65 documentaries and about 50 music videos were shown to the audience. 2046, Me and You and Everyone we know, Last days…well this are the name of movies screened last year. The festival organizers this year expected a crowd turn out of more then 80,000. Predominantly, the crowd is from United States. However, film enthusiasts who can afford to fly down from distant places to Los Angeles often couple the festival with sight seeing or other events. Both, English and non-English (usually with English subtitles) films are shown at the festival. The movies are screened at various theatres, museums and even the UCLA campus. If you are physically challenged, don’t worry, this destinations (barring a few like Italian Institute) are accessible for handicapped. All the places are in Los Angeles.
If you are interested in the next year festival, do book your tickets well in advance. Tickets can be booked through the official festival website or toll free numbers. This year the VIP pass, which gave access to all the screenings and gala events, sold for $1000! Don’t worry…if you just intend to see one or two screenings or attend just the gala event, then tickets are available accordingly.
The festival is also an occasion to felicitate the talented artists of the world of cinema. Many awards in different categories are given to both on screen and behind the screen artists. Unlike the Oscars, there are a bunch of separate awards for short documentaries and foreign films.
The festivals bring together the glitterati from virtually the whole world. Hollywood actors have the most visible presence at the festival. It’s not weird to see Steven Spielberg give a best documentary award to a relatively unheard producer. This year it was Charlize Theron who gave the Best Documentary award to to Amy Berg for the documentary deliver us from evil.
The LA film festival is a visual treat for avid moviegoers. But more importantly, it provides a wide platform for the film fraternity itself to mingle among themselves. The festival is a perfect forum for actors, producers, directors, writers and other people related to film industry to network with each other. The atmosphere is perfect for all these creative minds to come together and probably think of a great cinema idea. The festival also has blessings from the corporate world. Every year big names like Kodak, Intel, and Target sponsor the various events of the festival. Apart from the sponsors who bring in the moolah, various corporations also support its promotion. Plus there are affiliates who bring the festival into the limelight and create the much talked about hype about the festival.
Apart from this major event, Los Angeles also hosts other smaller film festivals like the Indian film festival, International short film festival and Latino film festival. Italian, Polish and many other European film industries held their festivals in Los Angeles.
All the festivals these days do a huge web promotion. So if you are on a tour to the west coast of America, do search for any ongoing or forthcoming film festival in an around Los Angeles. Thousands of tourists roam the streets of LA every year. But a few lucky ones are able to add this extra entertainment to their vacation