by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent

Now you can escape to the movies this Spring courtesy of Film Independent and the 2014 Los Angeles Film Festival during its 20th anniversary. Sometimes a press release is so good, it deserves to run by itself.

That said... all the details below courtesy of Film Independent (the people who run this festival), LAFF 2014, The Los Angeles Times, and L.A. LIVE.

FILM INDEPENDENT ANNOUNCES EXCITING LINE-UP OF FREE COMMUNITY SCREENINGS AT 2014 LOS ANGELES FILM FESTIVAL

PRE-FESTIVAL SCREENING OF CLUELESS

MAY 6 IN NOKIA PLAZA L.A. LIVE

FESTIVAL SCREENINGS INCLUDE LA BAMBA, I AM BIG BIRD, LIMITED PARTNERSHIP AND BUSTER KEATON’S COPS & SHERLOCK JR. 

LOS ANGELES (April 22, 2014) – Today the Los Angeles Film Festival, presented by Film Independent, in conjunction with Presenting Media Sponsor Los Angeles Times and Host Partner L.A. LIVE, announced several free community screenings to take place in conjunction with the 20^th anniversary of the Festival including Amy Heckerling’s Clueless, Luis Valdez’s La Bamba, Dave LaMattina and Chad Walker’s I Am Big Bird, Buster Keaton’s Cops and Sherlock Jr. and Thomas Miller‘s Limited Partnership.

Stephanie Allain, Director of the Festival says, “At Film Independent, we create events for LA communities to come together. This year’s Festival line up of free screenings invites you to celebrate the 20^th Anniversary of Clueless in Nokia Plaza L.A. LIVE, dance along to La Bamba, at the newly restored Union Station, meet the man behind Big Bird and experience the genius of Buster Keaton with a live band at Grand Performances and retrace the steps of original gay marriage pioneers at Regal Cinemas L.A. LIVE Stadium 14. Come on out, Angelenos!”

“This year we have two wonderful, family friendly evenings under the stars at California Plaza in collaboration with Grand Performances—in the first Buster Keaton’s mind-boggling silent classic Sherlock Jr and his hilarious short Cops will be shown with a live accompaniment by the French garage rock band Magnetix, and the next night Sesame Street’s beloved puppeteer Carrol Spinney will be on hand for a screening of I Am Big Bird. Our Project Involve screening is an emotional knockout: the true life love story between two pioneers in the battle for gay marriage, the L.A. based couple Richard Adams and Tony Sullivan,” says David Ansen, Artistic Director.

The full Los Angeles Film Festival line up will be announced on May 6 and to celebrate Film Independent is hosting a pre-Festival outdoor screening of Clueless (1995) directed by Amy Heckerling, starring Alicia Silverstone, Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy, Paul Rudd, Donald Faison, Elisa Donovan, Breckin Meyer and Jeremy Sisto at Nokia Plaza L.A. LIVE. Director Amy Heckerling and actors Stacey Dash, Elisa Donovan and Donald Faison will introduce the film.  The event starts at 7:00 p.m on May 6.

This year marks the Los Angeles Film Festival’s third annual Dance-A-Long screening in cooperation with Dance Camera West. Union Station will host the Dance-A-Long screening of Luis Valdez’s La Bamba (1987) starring Lou Diamond Phillips, Esai Morales, Rosanna DeSoto and Elizabeth Peña produced in cooperation with Metro. Director Luis Valdez, actors Lou Diamond Phillips and Elizabeth Peña will be in attendance for a special Q+A before the film. La Bamba recalls the life of Ritchie Valens, 1950’s teen heartthrob whose meteoric rise ended abruptly when he died at age 17 in a plane crash with Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper.

The Los Angeles Film Festival in partnership with Grand Performances will screen the documentary I Am Big Bird directed by Dave LaMattina and Chad Walker at California Plaza. I Am Big Bird profiles Caroll Spinney, the 80-year-old puppeteer who has been behind Sesame Street's Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch since the show's first season. Relying heavily on Caroll's incredible archive of home videos dating back to the 1950s, I Am Big Bird captures how the love radiating from Caroll has created a worldwide cultural icon and answers why he can't say goodbye to the characters he cherishes.

A special treat awaits Festival-goers with the back to back screening of two Buster Keaton classics Sherlock Jr. (1924) and Cops (1922). The films will be shown with an original score performed by the French garage rock band Magnetix from Bordeaux, as part of the yearlong 50th anniversary celebration of the Los Angeles-Bordeaux Sister Cities program (http://www.sistercitiesofla.com/#upcomingevnets). The event is on Friday, June 13 at California Plaza and is co-produced with Grand Performances.

Closing off the free screenings will be the World Premiere of the documentary Limited Partnership by director Thomas Miller. Limited Partnership is a love story about two pioneers in the struggle for same-sex marriage, Filipino-American Richard Adams and Australian Tony Sullivan, who were married in Colorado in 1975 and have been fighting the government ever since for the right to live together in the same country.

Passes and ticket packages go on sale to the general public today, April 22. The full line-up will be announced on Tuesday, May 6. In addition to access to screenings and events (even after advanced tickets sell out), Festival passes provide access to a series of networking receptions and entry to the Festival Lounge, where Festival passholders (21 and older) can interact with Festival filmmakers and professionals in the film community and enjoy a hosted bar.  Individual tickets to screenings and events go on sale to the general public on Tuesday, May 20, with a Film Independent Member pre-sale beginning May 15. Contact the Festival Ticket Office for passes, tickets and event information by calling 866.FILM.FEST (866.345.6337) or visit LAFilmFest.com. The Festival Guide, the comprehensive source for all movie info, screenings, locations and related events is produced by the Los Angeles Times. It will top the Los Angeles Times on Sunday, June 8 in Los Angeles and Orange County and be made available throughout downtown during the nine-day event.

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