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Los Angeles Film Festival 2017: Competition Film Lineup

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Los Angeles Film Festival 2017 Competition Film Lineup

The official competition selection (U.S. Fiction, Documentary, World Fiction, LA Muse, and Nightfall) film lineup for the 2017 Los Angeles Film Festival has been announced. The 23rd Annual Los Angeles Film Festival, “It showcases independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as music videos. Since 2001 it is run by the organization Film Independent, which also has been arranging the annual Independent Spirit Awards in Santa Monica since 1985.

The festival began as the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival (LAIFF) in 1995. The LAIFF ran for six years, until it was absorbed into Film Independent in 2001.

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[The] Film Independent…[is] a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts organization dedicated to promoting and supporting independent films and filmmakers that embody diversity, innovation and uniqueness of vision.”

This year’s Los Angeles Film Festival will feature the world premiere of thirty-seven films, the North American premiere of nine films, and the international premiere of two films. The 23rd Annual Los Angeles Film Festival will feature forty-eight full-length films and fifty-one short films.

As was announced weeks ago, the opening night film for this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival will be The Book of Henry, a film directed by Colin Trevorrow, and starring Naomi Watts, Jaeden Lieberher, Jacob Tremblay, Sarah Silverman, Lee Pace, Maddie Ziegler, and Dean Norris.

The full listing of the Official Selection for the 2017 Los Angeles Film Festival is below:

U.S. Fiction Competition (10)

Original voices with distinct visions from emerging and established American independent filmmakers.

20 Weeks, dir. Leena Pendharkar, USA, World Premiere

And Then I Go, dir. Vincent Grashaw, USA, World Premiere

Beauty Mark, dir. Harris Doran, USA, World Premiere

Becks, dir. Elizabeth Rohrbaugh, Daniel Powell, USA, World Premiere

Don’t Come Back From The Moon, dir. Bruce Thierry Cheung, USA, World Premiere

Everything Beautiful is Far Away, dir. Andrea Sisson, Pete Ohs, USA, World Premiere

Izzy Gets the Fuck Across Town, dir. Christian Papierniak, USA, World Premiere

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Moss, dir. Daniel Peddle, USA, World Premiere

Never Here, dir. Camille Thoman, USA, World Premiere

Village People, dir. Paul Briganti, USA, World Premiere

 

Documentary Competition (10)

Compelling, character-driven non-fiction films from the U.S. and around the world.

Abu, dir. Arshad Khan, Canada, World Premiere

Dalya’s Other Country, dir. Julia Meltzer, USA, World Premiere

Liyana, dir. Aaron Kopp, Amanda Kopp, Swaziland / USA / Qatar, World Premiere

Mankiller, dir. Valerie Red-Horse Mohl, USA, World Premiere

Monkey Business, dir. Ema Ryan Yamazaki, USA, World Premiere

Opuntia, dir. David Fenster, USA / Mexico / Spain, World Premiere

Out of State, dir. Ciara Lacy, USA, World Premiere

Stella Polaris Ulloriarsuaq, dir. Yatri N. Niehaus, Germany / Greenland, World Premiere

Thank You For Coming, dir. Sara Lamm, USA, World Premiere

Two Four Six, dir. Leyla Nedorosleva, Russia / USA / Haiti, World Premiere

 

World Fiction Competition (8)

Unique fiction films from around the world by emerging and established filmmakers, especially curated for LA audiences.

Butterfly Kisses, dir. Rafael Kapelinski, Great Britain, North American Premiere

Catching Feelings, dir. Kagiso Lediga, South Africa, World Premiere

Dark Blue Girl, dir. Mascha Schilinski, Germany / Greece, International Premiere

In This Corner of the World, dir. Sunao Katabuchi, Japan, North American Premiere

Moko Jumbie, dir. Vashti Anderson, Trinidad and Tobago / USA, World Premiere

The Nightguard, dir. Diego Ros, Mexico, North American Premiere

Nocturne, dir. Luis Ayhllón, Mexico, North American Premiere

On the Beach at Night Alone, dir. Hong Sangsoo, South Korea, North American Premiere

 

LA Muse (12)

Fiction and documentary films that capture the spirit of Los Angeles.

And Then There Was Eve, dir. Savannah Bloch, USA, World Premiere

Anything, dir. Timothy McNeil, USA, World Premiere

Built to Fail, dir. Bobby Kim, Alexis Spraic, Scott Weintrob, USA, World Premiere

The Classic, dir. Billy McMillin, USA, World Premiere

Fat Camp, dir. Jennifer Arnold, USA, World Premiere

A Midsummer Night’s Dream, dir. Casey Wilder Mott, USA, World Premiere

Mighty Ground, dir. Delila Vallot, USA, World Premiere

Roller Dreams, dir. Kate Hickey, USA, International Premiere

Skid Row Marathon, dir. Mark Hayes, USA, World Premiere

What We Started, dir. Bert Marcus, Cyrus Saidi, USA, World Premiere

The Year of Spectacular Men, dir. Lea Thompson, USA, World Premiere

Your Own Road, dir. Brandon Buczek, USA, World Premiere

Nightfall (8)

From the bizarre to the horrifying, these are films to watch after dark.

Desolation, dir. Sam Patton, USA, World Premiere

The Housemaid, dir. Derek Nguyen, Vietnam / USA, North American Premiere

It Stains the Sands Red, dir. Colin Minihan, USA, North American Premiere

Midnighters, dir. Julius Ramsay, USA, World Premiere

The Neighbor, dir. Giancarlo Ruiz, Mexico, World Premiere

Replace, dir. Norbert Keil, Germany / Canada, North American Premiere

Serpent, dir. Amanda Evans, South Africa, World Premiere

Thread, dir. The Boy, Greece, North American Premiere

Short Films (51): From over 2,700 submissions, the short films selected represent 13 countries, 47% are directed by women and 51% are directed by people of color. Short films are shown before features and as part of six short film programs. Shorts will compete for juried prizes for fiction and documentary shorts, as well as an Audience Award for Best Short Film.

Future Filmmakers Showcase: High School Shorts (15):

Made by incredibly accomplished high school filmmakers from across the country and globe, 60% of the short films in this diverse slate are directed by young women and 20% are directed by people of color. Program sponsored by Time Warner Foundation, Lisa Argyros/Argyros Family Foundation and Employees Community Fund of Boeing California.

Episodes: Indie Series from the Web (10)

This showcase of independently crafted web series, 70% of which are directed by people of color and 40% are directed by women, celebrates rising creators whose work and subjects are innovative and unfiltered.

BKPI, dir. Hye Yun Park, USA

Danny the Manny, dir. Mike Roma, USA

High & Mighty, dir. Carlos Lopez Estrada, USA

My America, dir. Anna Jones, Asaad Kelada, USA

People Of…, dir. lamia Alami, SWITZERLAND

The F Word, dir. Nicole Opper, USA

The Show about the Show, dir. Caveh Zahedi, USA

Two Sentence Horror Stories, dir. J.D. Dillard, USA

Very Animated People, dir. Joseph Bennet, USA

Steps, dir. Fernando Sanchez, Pascual Sisto, USA

Leave your thoughts on the 2017 Los Angeles Film Festival official competition selection below in the comments section. For more Los Angeles Film Festival news coverage, photos, videos, and information, visit our Film Festival Page. Want up-to-the-minute notifications? FilmBook staff members publish articles by Email, Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, and Facebook. This year’s Los Angeles Film Festival will be held from June 14, 2017 – June 22, 2017.

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Rollo Tomasi

Rollo Tomasi is a Connecticut-based film critic, TV show critic, news, and editorial writer. He will have a MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University in 2025. Rollo has written over 700 film, TV show, short film, Blu-ray, and 4K-Ultra reviews. His reviews are published in IMDb's External Reviews and in Google News. Previously you could find his work at Empire Movies, Blogcritics, and AltFilmGuide. Now you can find his work at FilmBook.
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