Films a plenty

The Los Angeles Film Festival will run from June 17 to 27 with a glorious confusion of shorts, student films, foreign films, documentaries and features from the indies and studios, not to mention a smattering of celebrity retrospectives. Most events cost $12 with a $3 charge per order and they will take place in downtown L.A. Individual tickets go on sale June 1.

Visions of Hope

Art Theater will host the Hope and Freedom Film Festival this Saturday, May 22, from 1 pm until midnight. The free event, sponsored in part by the NAACP, features films by young people addressing alternatives to hatred and discrimination.

Fun Springs in Palm Springs

Anyone heading to Palm Springs for the film festival from January 5 to 18 should consider taking in the Fabulous Palm Springs Follies too. Performers from 56 to 86 spin, jump and high kick with the best of them.
The city will also host Palm Springs Modernism Week from February 12 to February 21 with architecture and home tours.

Lights, Camera, AFI

The AFI Festival starts this weekend and you can sign up for free tickets on the website for a week plus a weekend of documentaries, shorts, and feature films from studios and independent producers. Anyone can get up to 20 tickets but tickets for the evening shows and galas are limited. I have my eye on Saturday Nov. 7 at Santa Monica Laemmle. All three features that day are appealing. A Town Called Panic is a stop action animation comedy based on a Belgian TV show that mixes whimsy and slapstick. Sweetgrass documents the lives and hard times of sheep ranchers in Montana. After.Life toys with horror movie conventions in the story of an undertaker who claims to speak to the dearly departed.

A Film Festival in Long Beach's Backyard

Huntington Beach's SoCal Independent Film Festival runs from September 14 to 23. Workshops, panels, and showings will be held at the Huntington Beach Central Library and Cultural Center Theatre. Shorts and feature length entries will be shown most evenings and tickets run from $4 to $6. The website is a little difficult to navigate but many of the movies' previews are featured if you can find them