LOS ANGELES FILM FESTIVAL FEATURES INDEPENDENTS AND DOCS,  by Alex Deleon for <filmfestivals.com>
 

Now in its nineteenth year and taking place June 13-23, the Los Angeles Film Festival is widely recognized as a world-class cinematic event, showcasing the best in new American and international cinema and providing the movie-loving public with access to some of the most critically acclaimed filmmakers, film industry professionals and emerging new talent by bringing them together in the heart of the entertainment capital of the world.
 
The Festival features unique signature programs including the Filmmaker Retreat, several Outdoor Screenings, intimate Coffee Talks and more. Additionally, the Festival screens short films created by high school students and has a special section devoted to music videos.

English poster for Almodovar's "Amantes pasajeros"
The Los Angeles Film Festival (LAFF) is run by an organization called Film Independent (FIND) which is dedicated, in part, to the discovery and promotion of new cinema talent.   So it is not surprising that the overwhelming majority of the films  selected for this festival are by unknown new directors, not only American but from around the world. This does not, however, rule out certain directors with established track records and occasional masters of the trade from industries further afield, such as for example, "Johnnie" To (TO KEI-FU) of Hong Kong or special guests like Costa-Gavras. There is also a strong slate of documentaries, one of the major strong points of this fest.

The opening night prestige gala was the latest offering from Spanish cine Maestro Pedro Almodóvar, a comedy entitled "I'm So Excited" (Amantes Pasajeros) on Thursday, but the festival stepped into high gear the following night with a full program of its customary fare.

The world premier of the documentary "The New Black" by Afro-American Baltimore based filmmaker Yoruba Richen was a true eye opener that elicited frenetic applause from a majority black audience and had people talking in the hall long afterward.  The subject was the campaign last November in a majority black precinct in Maryland on Proposition 6, the issue at stake being same sex marriage in a highly religious Afro-American community strongly divided on this question just about straight down the middle.  Almost everybody who appears in the film, gay and straight, is black including president Obama when he came out publicly in favor of gay marriage.

The conservative church which has always been a pillar of this community is strongly against with preachers declaiming their views vehemently and the ever presence of posters bearing messages like: "Don't Redefine Marriage" --"Marriage = One Man+ One Women" -- A dynamic young gay lady goes around door to door to get out the vote in favor and a very touching scene occurs when she reveals her sexual orientation to her loving grandmother, expecting negativity, but the grand old lady says "It's your life and I will always love you and support you".  The film plays out like a thriller and we are not sure until the very end how the vote will go, but it does end up slightly in favor of "Marriage Equality" -- after sexual equality is equated with Black Liberation in general.  A final image of Obama stating his position closes the film out.  This is an extremely well made documentary that is as interesting for the windows it opens on the interior workings of the black community as it is for its political content. An early highlight of the festival.

This was followed by a new Palestinian film entitled "When I Saw You" (Lamma Shoftak) which is a kind of fictionalized docudrama that takes place in and around the Hariri Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan in 1967 just after Israel's victory in the Six day War. A second feature by femme Palestinian Writer/director Anne-Marie Jacir, this film premiered at Toronto last fll and was also shown at the recently founded Abu Dhabi festival in thre Persian Gulf.

Mahmoud Asfa, 13 year old star of "Lamma Shortak"

The tale centers around a fantastic young boy about 12 or 13 by the name of Tarek and his mother Ghaydaa who have been made homeless by the war and have wound up in a refugee camp over the border in Jordan. The Hariri camp became somewhat notorious in the news and during the film as an touch oif realism we hear a radio report of an Israeli air attack on the camp which actually occurred. Other than this there is no great focus on Israel as the Great oppressor. Tjis is more a tale of survival against all odds in a hostile environment. For some reason Tarek's father was left behind and it is intimated that the relationship with his mother was far from perfect, but Tarek is determined to go back home to Israel-Palestine and find his father.  He runs way from the refuge camp where Palestinians are treated like trash by well off local Jordanians and is adopted as a kind of mascot by a group of Palestinian Fayedden guerilla fighters hiding out and training  in the forest near the refugee camp. Tarek is played by a kid with a Beatles mop of hair and long eyelashes who is a screen natural and looks like he may mature into an Arabic version of Alain Delon. The mother (Ruba Blal) is also an appealing actress and several of the Fayedeen are good actors and well drawn characters, but the story itself is kind of dragged out and does not really add anything new or interesting to the never-ending dialogue centering  on the never-ending Palestinian-Israeli conflict.  There are lengthy end credits wherein one name spotted as a sponsor was that of American actor Danny Glover who is known for his association with anything or anybody in opposition to the American way including dictators like the recently departed Hugo Chavez.

Coming up: an interview with Director David O. Russell and an evening with Costa Gavras