CS Weekly Archive > Happenings > 07/14/06

Sundance Without the Snow:
Film Independent's LA Film Festival

By james napoli

The beginning of this month saw the return of the L.A. Film Festival, this year co-hosted by the Los Angeles Times. CS Weekly was on hand, and brings you the highlights.

If waiting in lines and riding shuttle buses in a frigid Utah winter can actually bring a smile to your face during Sundance, then doing the same things in a Los Angeles summer is a cakewalk. Indeed, the diverse programming and neighborhood feel of this year's Los Angeles Film Festival seemed to create waves of good feeling, no matter how far away from Westwood some of the movies were. The addition of the L.A. Times as a partner helped pack houses, and the staff and volunteers got through only the smallest of hiccups as they came up to speed (for example, technical difficulties made me miss an early screening of Steve Collins' Gretchen, which won the jury prize for Best Narrative Feature).

My favorite this year was The Aura, a hypnotic noir from Argentina about an epileptic taxidermist who fantasizes about the perfect crime. Adding an eerie note to the film's contemplative mood was the untimely passing last week of its writer/director, Fabián Bielinsky (Nine Queens).

There were other standout foreign offerings: from the Czech Republic, Something Like Happiness, writer/director Bohdan Sláma's intimate, tough story of dysfunction and longing; Narrow Alleys, a neo-realist delight from Iran's Ali Zamani Esmati chronicling the efforts of children to retrieve a stolen cassette player. As part of the fest's International Spotlight on Israel, Close to Home (Dalia Hager and Vidi Bilu wrote and directed) is a slyly simple character study about two young women struggling through their mandatory service in the Israeli army.

American narratives seemed to take their time getting to their strengths this year, but those that finally did made for enjoyable viewing. Swedish Auto (writer/director Derek Sieg) lumbers along and often feels strained, but is rescued by the hearts of its two outcast small-town protagonists (Lukas Haas and January Jones). Audience Award- winner Ira & Abby, Jennifer Westfeldt's follow up to Kissing Jessica Stein, stumbles between knowing relationship drama and goofy relationship comedy with mixed, but occasionally profound, results. Analog Days, an ultra-low budgeter from Mike Ott, is irritatingly rambling and unfocused, but manages to hit several grace notes in its excursion into late-teenaged ennui in dusty Newhall, CA. Old Joy, written by Jon Raymond and director Kelly Reichart, emerged as the embodiment of an old-school indie spirit. This quiet, thoughtful sketch about two old, now-disparate friends on a weekend camping trip really resonates.

Chalk, the mockumentary about public school teachers had mondo buzz, but writers Mike Akel and Chris Maas push so hard on the droll meter that the film ended up flat-lining, despite very endearing characters (it won a jury prize for ensemble acting). Brothers of the Head (writer Tony Grisoni) simply should not have used the mockumentary form. When it fully commits to its scenes with (fictional) conjoined twins who became punk icons in the 1970's, it is a must-see, but you'll have to wade through some tired old phony interviews and recreations. (For another view, check back July 28 for Danny Munso's CSW review.) Kirby Dick's documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated is something every writer should see, not only for Dick's ingenious structure (we follow a private investigator trying to disclose the identities of the top-secret Motion Picture Ratings Board members), but also for its examination of how an artistic vision can be compromised behind closed doors.

Kudos to Shorts programmer Hebe Tabachnik for drawing good-sized audiences to consistently solid shorts programs (look for Transaction, a lyrical portrait of a hooker and her john from Filmmakers' Alliance co-founder Jacques Thelemaque, or Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves, Andrea Janakas' tale of history unfolding amid the even bigger drama of troubled adolescent girls). Tabachnik also deserves credit for such unique events as the Cal Arts Mini- Tribute, which showcased new narrative works and the history of the school's experimental spirit -- a freedom which helped launch the careers of John Lasseter and Stephen (SpongeBob Squarepants) Hillenburg, among many others. High School Shorts was a fascinating glimpse into the adolescent zeitgeist, and yielded a lot of genuinely moving stories and personal portraits from Los Angeles and elsewhere.

I attended a rather rewarding "Coffee Talk" about screenwriting with Callie Khoury (Thelma & Louise), Brian Helgeland (Mystic River), moderated by Billy Ray (Shattered Glass). What might have been a mundane chat about individual working methods quickly opened up to an engaging dialogue about the grind of the Hollywood screenwriter, with much time spent on the reality of having to take and incorporate notes while still keeping the project's vision on track.

2006 was a pivotal year for the LAFF. If they can keep the eclectic and stimulating energy going, this will be a much-anticipated annual event for Los Angeles.

CS Marketing Manager Danny Munso also attended; here are his thoughts.
Star Wars honcho George Lucas was this year's guest director, a position that allows the director to pick three of his favorite films for inclusion in the festival. His choices were Akira Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai, Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove, and Jean-Luc Godard's Masculine-Feminine. While the first two were widely known to be sources of Lucas' inspiration, the addition of Godard's 1966 classic was more unexpected. The screenings for all three films seemed to be preceded with a building anticipation that The Bearded One would show. Although it would have been special to hear Lucas' thoughts on these films, it was still nice to see them restored and on the big screen. Lucas also hosted the filmmakers of entered films at Skywalker Ranch the week before the festival.

Other screenings we caught included a brand-new nailbiter at the open-air John Anderson Ford Amphitheatre one Friday night and a Jeff Dowd-repped drama Islander two nights later in Westwood. The two films couldn't have been more different: one Neil Marshall Stevens' (Dog Soldiers) great new horror film about six women trapped in an underground cave with carnivorous creatures; the other was a gentle drama (co-written and starring 24's Thomas Hildreth) about a lobster fisherman returning to piece together his life in his small Maine town after accidentally killing a kid. One gave out red glow sticks (thanks, Lions Gate), the other held a lobster dinner (thanks, Dude), but both were satisfying in different ways.

As is tradition, the Festival played host to a series of panel discussions, with one centering on screenwriting featuring Oscar-winners Brian Helgeland (L.A. Confidential), Callie Khouri (Thelma and Louise) and moderated by Billy Ray (Shattered Glass). Unfortunately, the discussion hardly lived up to expectations. As a moderator, Ray did a decent job, but Helgeland didn't have much to say and Khouri seemed shaken (as was the audience) by a rabid fan in the front row who kept shouting Khouri's name. While the panelists had a lot to say about directing, it's hardly inspiring to attend a screenwriting panel where the three representatives discuss how much they prefer directing. And things entered a little bit of the Twilight Zone when the trio heavily criticized the WGA's arbitration process…at a WGA-sponsored event with Guild officers in attendance.

With appreciative crowds at almost every screening, and those waiting in line often eagerly checking their programs for the next film they wanted to see, it certainly felt like the 2006 LAFF delivered a little slice of film-buff paradise. The increased exposure, genuinely eclectic selection and stimulating vibe made this a pivotal year for the festival, and it all bodes well for its becoming a much-anticipated annual event in Los Angeles.

James Napoli has a Masters Degree from the London International Film School, wrote and directed two award-winning short films, teaches a creative writing class for screenwriters, and is the head writer of live original radio plays for XM Satellite Radio's New Frequency.

Danny Munso and Den Shewman also contributed to this article.

Something Like Happiness courtesy Film Movement
The Descent courtesy Lions Gate Films
This Film Is Not Yet Rated courtesy IFC Films

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