The Los Angeles Film Festival, released its official film selections for 2013, and made some big announcements – Fox Searchlight Pictures’ The Way, Way Back, will serve as the Closing Night film for the 2013 Festival, the Festival’s Gala screenings, will include Ryan Coogler’s award winning Fruitvale Station from The Weinstein Company and the North American premiere of Nicholas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives from RADiUS-TWC. The festival previously announced that opening the Festival will be the North American premiere of Pedro Almodóvar’s I’m So Excited!.
The Way, Way Back, written and directed by Oscar® winners Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, and starring Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Allison Janney, AnnaSophia Robb, Sam Rockwell, Maya Rudolph, Rob Corddry, Amanda Peet and Liam James. The film is the funny and poignant coming-of-age story of 14-year-old Duncan’s (Liam James) summer vacation with his mother, Pam (Toni Collette), her overbearing boyfriend, Trent (Steve Carell), and his daughter, Steph (Zoe Levin). Having a rough time fitting in, the introverted Duncan finds an unexpected friend in gregarious Owen (Sam Rockwell), manager of the Water Wizz water park. Through his funny, clandestine friendship with Owen, Duncan slowly opens up to and begins to finally find his place in the world – all during a summer he will never forget. Fox Searchlight Pictures will release the film on July 5.
The Gala screenings at the 2013 Festival include the North American premiere of RADiUS-TWC’s Only God Forgives, which reunites filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn with his Drive star Ryan Gosling for an audacious piece of cinematic bravura about an American expat in Bangkok’s brutal underworld forced to deal with his mother’s obsession for vengeance after his brother’s murder. The film also stars Kristin Scott Thomas and Vithaya Pansringarm. Also, The Weinstein Company’s Fruitvale Station from first-time feature filmmaker Ryan Coogler, who brings cinematic grace and maturity to the tragic true story of Oscar Grant, a young African-American man, on the fateful day he was killed by Oakland’s BART transit police. It stars Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Ahna O’Reilly, Kevin Durand, Chad Michael Murray and Octavia Spencer.
The 2013 Los Angeles Film Festival runs from Thursday, June 13 to Sunday, June 23, in downtown Los Angeles at L.A. LIVE.
Narrative Competition (12)
All Together Now, Alexander Mirecki – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
Forev, Molly Green, James Leffler – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
Forty Years From Yesterday, Robert Machoian, Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
Four Dogs, Joe Burke – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
Goodbye World, Denis Henry Hennelly – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
The House That Jack Built, Henry Barrial – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
I.D., Kamal K M – India – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Mother, I Love You, Janis Nords – Latvia – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
My Sister’s Quinceañera, Aaron Douglas Johnston – USA – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Pollywogs, Karl Jacob, T. Arthur Cottam – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
Winter in the Blood, Andrew Smith, Alex Smith – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
Workers, Jose Luis Valle – Mexico/Germany – US PREMIERE
Documentary Competition (10)
All of Me, Alexandra Lescaze – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs, Grace Lee – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
Code Black, Ryan McGarry – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
The Island of Saint Matthews, Kevin Jerome Everson – USA – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
Llyn Foulkes One Man Band, Tamar Halpern, Christopher Quilty – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
My Stolen Revolution, Nahid Persson Sarvestani – Sweden – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
The New Black, Yoruba Richen – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
Rain, Olivia Rochette, Gerard-Jan Claes – Belgium – US PREMIERE
Tapia, Eddie Alcazar – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
Purgatorio, Rodrigo Reyes – Mexico/USA – US PREMIERE
International Showcase (15)
The Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer, Christine Cynn – Denmark/Norway/UK (Drafthouse Films)
Black Out, Eva Webber – UK – NORTH AMERCAN PREMIERE
Boxing Day, Bernard Rose – UK
Dormant Beauty, Marco Bellocchio – Italy
Drug War, Johnnie To – China
Ernest & Celestine, Stéphanie Aubier, Vincent Patar, Benjamin Renner – France (Gkids)
The Expedition to the End of the World, Daniel Dancik – Denmark
The Fifth Season, Peter Brosens, Jessica Woodworth – Belgium/Netherlands/France
House with a Turret, Eva Neymann – Ukraine
The Moo Man, Andy Heathcote, Heike Bachelier – UK
Nobody’s Daughter Haewon, Hong Sang-soo – Korea – NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
The Patience Stone, Atiq Rahimi – Afghanistan/France/Germany/UK (Sony Pictures Classics)
Wadjda, Haifaa Al Mansour – Saudi Arabia/United Arab Emirates/Germany (Sony Pictures Classics)
When I Saw You, Annemarie Jacir – Palestine/Jordan/Greece/United Arab Emirates/USA
The Women and the Passenger, Valentina Mac-Pherson, Patricia Correra – Chile – US PREMIERE
Summer Showcase (17)
Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, David Lowery – USA (IFC Films)
Brothers Hypnotic, Reuben Atlas – Netherlands/USA
Casting By, Tom Donahue – USA (HBO Films)
Concussion, Stacie Passon – USA (RADiUS-TWC)
The Crash Reel, Lucy Walker – USA (HBO Films)
Crystal Fairy, Sebastián Silva – Chile (IFC Films)
Europa Report, Sebastián Cordero – USA (Magnolia Pictures/Magnet Releasing) – US PREMIERE
First Cousin Once Removed, Alan Berliner – USA (HBO Films)
Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction, Sophie Huber – Switzerland
In a World…, Lake Bell – USA (Roadside Attractions)
Our Nixon, Penny Lane – USA
Our Vinyl Weighs A Ton, Jeff Broadway – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
Short Term 12, Destin Daniel Cretton – USA
The Spectacular Now, James Ponsoldt – USA
Venus Vs., Ava DuVernay – USA (ESPN) – WORLD PREMIERE
Community Screenings (5)
Brasslands, Meerkat Media Collective – USA – FIGat7th Screening – WORLD PREMIERE
Dazed and Confused (1993), Richard Linklater – USA – 20th Anniversary Screening – FIGat7th Screening
Hairspray (1988), John Waters – USA – Grand Park Dance-A-Long – 25th Anniversary Screening
Inequality for All, Jacob Kornbluth – USA – Grand Performances Screening
Life of a King, Jake Goldberger – USA– Project Involve Screening – WORLD PREMIERE
The Beyond (3)
Delivery, Brian Netto – USA – WORLD PREMIERE
Lesson of the Evil, Takashi Miike – Japan – US PREMIERE
You’re Next, Adam Wingard – USA (Lionsgate)
Retro (3):
Amarcord (1973), Federico Fellini – Italy – 40th Anniversary Screening
Between Two Worlds (2009), Vimukthi Jayasundara – Sri Lanka/France – LAFCA’s The Film That Got Away
Two Men in Manhattan (1958), Jean Pierre-Melville – France (Cohen Media Group) – 55th Anniversary Screening