The 2016 L.A. Film Festival, which starts Wednesday and will go through June 9, is expected to draw 90,000 attendees united by an interest in discovering and supporting independent filmmakers.
“People want to be part of the discovery process,” said Stephanie Allain, director of the festival. “The visions of these films are unique.”
The event – now in its 22nd year – has grown in tandem with the promise of new streaming distribution opportunities from companies such as Netflix or L.A.-based A24 Films, Allain said. Last year, ticket sales were up 33 percent from 2014. And the seats for the festival’s world premieres typically sell out.
Presented by Film Independent, a nonprofit arts organization headquartered in West Los Angeles, this year’s festival will be hosted by ArcLight Cinemas’ theaters in Culver City and Hollywood. It was previously held at the L.A. Live complex downtown since 2010. Additional screenings will take place at various venues around the city, such as downtown’s Figat7th and Ace Hotel, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on the Miracle Mile.
Tickets cost $15 for regular screenings, $25 for gala screenings, and $350 for a pass to every screening at the event.
A diverse team leads the distinctly L.A.-focused festival and its five competitions, which include a curated selection of 56 features and 58 shorts as well as 13 shorter works and web series from all over the world.
“Creative director Jennifer Cochis and programming director Roya Rastegar work all year round to cull the 500 to 600 submissions,” said Allain, noting that the team canvasses Facebook and reaches out to film schools as part of the selection process.
In the end, Rastegar said, the approach yields a more lean and mean set of works focused on diversity.
More than 40 percent of the films were directed by women and people of color, both groups that statistically tend to struggle to compete for distribution deals in traditional Hollywood settings.
The festival’s signature L.A. Muse section has been particularly fruitful for emerging storytellers. The spirit of the city serves as both a backdrop and subject in the locally focused competition, which this year features six films, including “Manchild: The Schea Cotton Story,” filmed in Inglewood, and “Girl Flu,” shot in Echo Park.
The program was put on the map when “Nightingale” (starring David Oyelowo of “Selma”) sold to HBO and “Echo Park” sold to “Selma” director Ava DuVernay’s company Array for distribution through Netflix in the first year the category was introduced.
“Nobody wants to watch themselves more on screen than Angelenos,” said Rastegar. “It’s a section that celebrates different neighborhoods and places in L.A.”
The role of a film festival is defined by its mission, added Rastegar. “At the LA Film Festival, audiences get to see something they couldn’t see anywhere else.”
