Los Angelenos are in for a treat. Film Independent announced the line up for the 2012 Los Angeles Film Festival and it’s once again a mix of studio and pseudo-indie world premieres as well as buzzed about titles from Sundance and SXSW. This inherently has made the LA Film Fest an awards season catch up for both industry media and development players. And it doesn’t hurt it comes right on the heels of Cannes to give some perspective for the awards season game in the months to come.
Previously, Film Independent announced that Woody Allen’s “To Rome With Love” as the festival’s opening night feature and “Seeking a Friend for the End of the World” with Keira Knightley and Steve Carell will have its world premiere as one the event’s galas. Additionally, Sundance Dramatic Grand Jury Prize winner “Beasts of the Southern Wild” was already on board as a gala as well (perfectly timed before its June 27 limited release).
Today, the festival added the highly anticipated “Magic Mike,” directed by Steven Soderbergh and starring Channing Tatumn, Alex Pettyfer, Matthew McConaughey, Joe Manganiello and newcomer Cody Horn, to its gala schedule. Based on Tatum’s early years as a stripper, the trailer makes it clear the picture is not just eye candy for moviegoers.
DreamWorks Pictures’ “People Like Us” is the other noteworthy world premiere set for the festival. The directorial debut of writer and producer Alex Kurtzman, “People” stars Chris Pine as a “fast-talking salesman” who has to abide by his father’s last wishes in hand delivering an inheritance to a sister (Elizabeth Banks) he never knew of. The trailer teases a possible twist where (it appears) Pine can’t tell Banks who he actually is. Mark Duplass, Michelle Pfeiffer, Olivia Wilde and Philip Baker Hall also star.
Both “Magic Mike” and “People Like Us” open on June 29.
The summer showcase features some familiar titles including “Celeste and Jesse Forever” starring Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg, “About Face,” “Robot and Frank,” “Searching for Sugar Man,” “The Queen of Versailles” and “The House I Live In.” All five titles debuted at Sundance with “House” winning the prestigious Grand Jury Documentary Award. SXSW’s “Gayby” and Toronto’s “Neil Young’s Journeys” also are heading to LAFF.
Among the festival’s International showcase highlights is Denmark’s “Teddy Bear” which won the World Dramatic Grand Jury Directing prize at Sundance.
Since moving from Westwood to LA Live three years ago, LA Film Fest has always had at least one mega-premiere at the Nokia Theater. It’s unclear if “Magic Mike” fits that bill or if they festival will announce another picture for that slot down the road. Oliver Stone’s “Savages” and even “G.I. Joe Retaliation” or “The Amazing Spider-Man” would certainly fit the bill.
Here’s a complete list of the films that will screen at this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival between June 14-June 24.
Narrative Competition
– All Is Well, Pocas Pascoal – Portugal – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
– Breakfast with Curtis, Laura Colella – WORLD PREMIERE
– The Compass is Carried by the Dead Man, Arturo Pons – Mexico – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
– Crazy and Thief, Cory McAbee – NORTH PREMIERE
– Dead Man”s Burden, Jared Moshé – WORLD PREMIERE
– Four, Joshua Sanchez – WORLD PREMIERE
– A Night Too Young, Olmo Omerzu – Czech Republic – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
– Pincus, David Fenster – WORLD PREMIERE
– Red Flag, Alex Karpovsky – WORLD PREMIERE
– Thursday till Sunday, Dominga Sotomayor – Chile – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Documentary Competition
– 25 to Life, Mike Brown – WORLD PREMIERE
– A Band Called Death, Jeff Howlett, Mark Covino – WORLD PREMIERE
– Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin and the Farm Midwives, Sara Lamm, Mary Wigmore – WORLD PREMIERE
– Call Me Kuchu, Katherine Fairfax Wright, Malika Zouhali-Worrall – US PREMIERE
– Drought, Everado González – Mexico – US PREMIERE
– The Iran Job, Till Schauder – USA/Germany/Iran – WORLD PREMIERE
– Sun Kissed, Maya Stark, Adi Lavy – WORLD PREMIERE
– Vampira and Me, R. H. Greene – WORLD PREMIERE
– Words of Witness, Mai Iskander – Egypt/USA – US PREMIERE
International Showcase
– Bestiaire, Denis Côté – Canada
– Bunohan: Return to Murder, Dain Said – Malaysia (Oscilloscope Pictures)
– Canícula, José Álvarez – Mexico
– The First Man, Gianni Amelio – France – US PREMIERE
– The Last Elvis, Armando Bo – Argentina
– Neighboring Sounds, Kleber Mendonça Filho – Brazil (The Cinema Guild)
– On the Edge, Leila Kilani – France/Morocco/Germany
– P-047, Kongdej Jaturanrasamee – Thailand
– Return to Burma, Midi Z. – Taiwan/Myanmar
– Sister, Ursula Meier – Switzerland (Adopt Films) – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
– The Strawberry Tree, Simone Rapisarda Casanova – Canada/Cuba/Italy
– Summer Games, Rolando Colla – Switzerland
– Teddy Bear, Mads Matthiesen – Denmark (Film Movement)
– Unforgivable, André Téchiné – France (Strand Releasing)
– Without Gorky, Cosima Spender – UK
Summer Showcase
– About Face, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders (HBO Films)
– Beauty Is Embarrassing, Neil Berkeley
– Big Easy Express, Emmett Malloy
– Celeste and Jesse Forever, Lee Toland Krieger (Sony Pictures Classics)
– Gayby, Jonathan Lisecki (Wolfe Releasing)
– Gimme the Loot, Adam Leon (IFC Films)
– The House I Live In, Eugene Jarecki
– It”s a Disaster, Todd Berger – WORLD PREMIERE
– La Camioneta: The Journey of One American School Bus, Mark Kendall – USA/Guatemala
– Neil Young Journeys, Jonathan Demme (Sony Pictures Classics)
– An Oversimplification of her Beauty, Terence Nance – USA/France
– People Like Us, Alex Kurtzman (Dreamworks Pictures) – WORLD PREMIERE
– The Queen of Versailles, Lauren Greenfield (Magnolia Pictures)
– Reportero, Bernardo Ruiz
– Robot and Frank, Jake Schreier (Samuel Goldwyn Films)
– Searching for Sugar Man, Malik Bendjelloul (Sony Pictures Classics)
Community Screenings: These films will be presented free to the public. New films in this section are eligible for Audience Awards for Best Narrative Feature or Best Documentary Feature.
– Dirty Dancing (1987), Emile Ardolino – Grand Performances Screening
– E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Steven Spielberg – FIGat7th Screening
– G-Dog, Freida Mock – WORLD PREMIERE
– The Invisible War, Kirby Dick (Cinedigm)
– LUV, Sheldon Candis – Project Involve Screening (Indomina)
– Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), Nicholas Meyer – FIGat7th Screening
The Beyond (3): The Beyond offers films that dare to be different. Films in this section are eligible for Audience Awards for Best International Feature or Best Narrative Feature.
– The History of Future Folk, J. Anderson Mitchell, Jeremy Kipp Walker – WORLD PREMIERE
– Juan of the Dead, Alejandro Brugués – Cuba
– Saturday Morning Massacre, Spencer Parsons – WORLD PREMIERE
Retro (3):
– Ballads, Blues and Bluegrass (1961), Alan Lomax – WORLD PREMIERE
– Banishment (2007), Andrey Zvyagintsev – Russia – LAFCA”s The Film That Got Away
– The Breaking Point (1950), Michael Curtiz – Film Foundation Screening
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