(Oct. 19, 2006) FILM INDEPENDENT ANNOUNCES DATES OF THE 2007 LOS ANGELES FILM FESTIVAL: JUNE 21 – JULY 1, 2007
Film Independent announced today that the dates for the 13th Los Angeles Film Festival will be Thursday, June 21 through Sunday, July 1, 2007.

Film Independent is now accepting film submissions for the 2007 Festival. The entry deadline for short films and music videos is February 9, 2007, while the deadline for feature-length (50 minutes or more) narrative and documentary films is March 1, 2007. Discounted entry fees are available for submission received by January 12, 2007. Submission forms and more information are available at www.lafilmfest.com.

“Last year the festival brought Los Angeles and the film community together reaching new heights and creating a world-class event,” said Executive Director of Film Independent Dawn Hudson. “We are so pleased to announce next year’s dates and look forward to what the coming year will bring.”

The Los Angeles Film Festival is a qualifying festival in all categories for the Independent Spirit Awards. This year’s Independent Spirit Award nominations will be announced on November 28, 2006. The Festival is also a qualifying festival for the short films categories of the Academy Awards.

Held annually every summer, the Los Angeles Film Festival showcases the best of American and international cinema. More than 100 feature films – narrative and documentary – are featured in the Festival, alongside gala premieres, panels and seminars, free outdoor screenings, live musical performances, and unique signature programs such as the Filmmaker Retreat and the Spirit of Independence Award ceremony. The Festival also screens short films created by high school students and has a special section devoted to music videos.

“We always look forward to the wonderful filmmaking surprises and discoveries that come in through submissions,” said Rachel Rosen, Director of Programming for Film Independent and the Los Angeles Film Festival. “There is so much innovative work being made; it is our privilege to bring the full spectrum of exciting new work – from the no-budget indies to inventive studio releases – to the epicenter of filmmaking.”

For the first time ever, last year’s Festival took place in Westwood Village, the new home of the Los Angeles Film Festival. The transition to Westwood was met with great success, with an audience increase of more than 20,000 attendees from 2005. Strategic partners involved in the transition to Westwood included the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, Mann Theatres, Landmark Theatres, the Majestic Crest Theatre, the Geffen Playhouse, and the Hammer Museum.

The Los Angeles Film Festival has grown to more than 80,000 attendees, unveiling such films as Deliver Us From Evil, Rock School, Mayor of the Sunset Strip, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart, Kissing Jessica Stein, George Washington, and The Cruise.

“This year we had 80,000 people attend the Festival. I think the crowds had much to do with the high number of acquisitions during the fest,” said Festival Director, Rich Raddon. “Distributors had a chance to see the films play to large cross-cultural audiences."

Recent films which were acquired for theatrical distribution out of the 2006 Festival, include Amy Berg’s Deliver Us From Evil (Lionsgate Films), Stacy Title’s Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror (Xenon Pictures), Stanley Nelson’s Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (Seventh Art Releasing), and Jody Hill’s The Foot Fist Way (Paramount Vantage). Previous acquisitions included Rock School (Newmarket Films), Mayor of the Sunset Strip (First Look Media/Lakeshore Entertainment), and Kissing Jessica Stein (Fox Searchlight).

Winners from the 2006 Los Angeles Film Festival included Steve Collins’s Gretchen, winner of the Target Filmmaker Award for Best Narrative Feature; Amy Berg’s Deliver Us From Evil, winner of the Target Documentary Award for Best Documentary Feature; Robert Cary’s Ira & Abby, winner of the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature; Jeff Werner and Susan Koch’s Mario’s Story, winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature; and Tomer Heymann’s Paper Dolls, winner of the Audience Award for Best International Film. Charlize Theron received the Spirit of Independence Award.

Other film highlights from the 2006 Festival were David Frankel’s The Devil Wears Prada, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’s Little Miss Sunshine, Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland’s Quinceañera, Davis Guggenheim’s “An Inconvenient Truth, Richard Linklater’s A Scanner Darkly,” Francois Ozon’s Time to Leave, Chris Paine’s Who Killed the Electric Car?, and Lian Lunson’s Leonard Cohen I’m Your Man.

The Festival is supported in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

ABOUT FILM INDEPENDENT

Film Independent is a non-profit membership organization that champions independent film and supports a community of artists who embody diversity, innovation, and uniqueness of vision. Film Independent helps filmmakers make their movies, builds the audience for their projects, and works to diversify the film industry. Anyone passionate about film can become a member, whether you are a filmmaker, film industry leader, or a film lover.

With over 250 annual screenings and events, Film Independent provides access to a network of like-minded artists who are driving creativity in the film industry. Film Independent also offers free Filmmaker Labs for selected writers, directors, and producers; provides cut-rate services for filmmakers; and presents year-round networking opportunities. Film Independent’s mentorship and job placement program, Project:Involve, pairs emerging culturally-diverse filmmakers with film industry professionals.

Film Independent produces the Los Angeles Film Festival, celebrating the best of American and international cinema, and the Spirit Awards, a celebration honoring films and filmmakers that embody independence and dare to challenge the status quo. For more information or to become a member, visit FilmIndependent.org.
— CALL FOR ENTRIES ALSO ANNOUNCED —

2006 Festival Acquisitions: Amy Berg’s “Deliver Us From Evil,” Stanley Nelson’s “Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple,” Stacy Title’s “Snoop Dogg’s Hood of Horror,” and Jody Hill’s “The Foot Fist Way”