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Deets: The 13th annual DTLA Film Festival, which is set to run from September 14th - 18th at Regal L.A. LIVE, announced its full lineup today. A total of 112 titles including 36 features and 76 short films are slated to screen, with virtually all making their world, West Coast, or Los Angeles premieres, and all eligible for awards.
Established in 2008 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the festival has grown to become the single largest film-TV event in burgeoning downtown Los Angeles, the historic core and new creative nexus of the city.
Opening the festival is “Carlos Through The Tall Grass,” a coming-of-age tale about a brilliant young Latinx high school student who is having doubts about going to college when he realizes how much all the needy, desperate and deranged people in his dysfunctional world depend on him.
The festival’s Centerpiece Film is “Cherry,” a narrative drama about a driftless young woman who discovers she's 11 weeks pregnant and has only 24 hours to make a consequential decision.
‘Cherry’ is fascinating in how director Sophie Galibert and her cast, and particularly Alex Trewhitt who plays the lead character, seamlessly bridge the divide between comedy and drama. The fact that it fearlessly tackles a hot-button issue – abortion – with aplomb made the film our obvious choice this year for our Centerpiece,” says Sosa.
Other feature highlights from the festival include the narratives “The Allnighter” with David Koechner (“Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy”), Justine Bateman (“Family Ties,” “Violet”) and James Russo (“Django Unchained”), “Stay The Night” with Andrea Bang (“Kim’s Convenience) and Humberly González (“Ginny and Georgia,” “Slumberland”), “In Her Name” from actress Sarah Carter (“The Vow,” “Rouge”) in her directorial debut, “Match” starring Ahna O'Reilly (“The Help”), Austin Nichols (“The Day After Tomorrow,” “The Walking Dead”), and Spencer Garett (“Once Upon a Time... In Hollywood,” “Bombshell”), “5-27-77” with John Francis Daley (“Game Night”) and Neil Flynn (“Mean Girls”), “Covid 19 Sins & Virtues” starring Oscar Torre (“Gaslit,” “The Haves and the Have Nots”) and Mauricio Mendoza (“Counterpunch”), “In Broad Daylight” starring Noel Gugliemi (“Training Day,” “The Fast and the Furious”), “Catalyst” with David Bianchi (“A Boy. A Girl. A Dream.,” Tyler Perry’s “Ruthless”) and “Nix” with Dee Wallace (“E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, “Cujo”) and Michael Paré (“Gone,” “The Lincoln Lawyer”).
Among the festival’s documentaries are “Pepe Serna: Life Is Art,” a biopic of the veteran character actor of 200+ films with appearances from Serna (“Scarface,” “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension”), Edward James Olmos (“Battlestar Galactica,” “Blade Runner”), Cheech Marin (“Born in East L.A.”) and Eva Longoria (“Desperate Housewives”), and Alyssa Milano-produced (“Charmed,” “Melrose Place”) “Surviving Sex Trafficking,” and “Nothing But The Blood,” an intimate look at a community Gospel group that flourished for decades by Grammy nominated jazz singer-songwriter Carmen Lundy.
Short film highlights include “Vuja De” starring Filippo Scotti (“The Hand of God”), “Post No Bills” from producer Francis Maxwell, “Borders” with Daniel Mora (“The Bridge”) and “Black Hollywood & COVID” by Oscar recipient filmmaker Charles Burnett and directors Jonathan Burnett and Joy Shannon.
Closing the festival is “The Rest of Us,” a stunning, thought-provoking documentary shot over a seven year period during the rise and fall of DACA that explores the broken American immigration system.
The 13th annual DTLA Film Festival is proudly sponsored by City National Bank, Le Grand Restaurant, Los Angeles City Council District 14 – Kevin de León, Councilmember, and SAS Studio.
Hint for the Average Socialite: Tickets for all of the festival’s programs are now on sale through the festival website: www.dtlaff.com. More films will be added to the program and announced soon.
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