Filmocracy will reprise its groundbreaking Film Festival with the second Festival set to run December 9th through December 12th. Filmocracy will present a robust slate of features and shorts, many of them award winners and social impact documentaries.
The hybrid in-person and digital festival and conference kicks off with a Special Presentation live screening of Richard Yelland’s Birth of the Endless Summer: Discovery of Cape St. Francis. Taking place Thursday, December 9th at the Community Center in Hermosa Beach, this is the revelatory story behind one of the most beloved and watched documentaries of all time—Bruce Brown’s The Endless Summer.
The Festival closes with a Special Presentation of Liz Marshall’s Meat the Future, a timely, character-driven documentary focusing largely on Dr. Uma Valeti, a former Mayo Clinic cardiologist and the visionary CEO of Upside Foods (previously Memphis Meats), an American start-up company. Upside Foods is at the forefront of a new revolutionary industry: making meat from cells, not from animal slaughter. Musician (and vegan) Moby provides the film’s music. This Premiere live screening will precede the Awards ceremony at Boomtown Brewery in DTLA.
When Filmocracy co-founder and CEO Paul Jun met festival veteran and executive Jon Fitzgerald, they decided to merge their platform with Fitzgerald’s innovative programming concepts, for their own flagship Filmocracy Fest.
Filmocracy Fest co-founder Jun says, “We’re pleased to apply our learnings over the past two years to our second homegrown Festival. Filmocracy is all about helping filmmakers reach wider audiences through unique gamification and prizes while showcasing the most interesting film festivals in the world. Filmocracy Fest will again showcase new talent, world premieres, festival favorites and preview screenings.”
A selection of critically acclaimed Documentaries will be presented at this year’s Festival, anchored by a number of social impact films. Each of these projects will be supported by comprehensive detail and links to the related causes and issues they represent, providing audiences with the opportunity to learn more, engage or take action.
The Documentary slate of films:
End of the Line: The Women of Standing Rock
Directed by Shannon Kring, Slamdance standout THE WOMEN OF STANDING ROCK captures history in the making, as a small group of indigenous women establish a peaceful camp in protest of the $3.8 billion oil pipeline construction that threatens their land, water, and very existence. When their camp’s population exceeds 10,000, the women unwittingly find themselves the leaders of a global movement.
Storm Lake
Directed by Jerry Risius and Beth Levison. An indelible parable for the state of contemporary journalism, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Art Cullen and his family fight to unite and inform their rural Iowan farming community through their biweekly newspaper, The Storm Lake Times—even as the paper hangs on by a thread. Twice a week, they work as civic watchdogs to protect their hometown and the legacy of credible journalism, at large—come hell or pandemic.
Try Harder!
Directed by Debby Lum. At the top public high school in San Francisco—with a majority Asian American student body—the seniors are stressed out. Students are keenly aware of the intense competition for the few open spots in their dream colleges. With humor and heart, Sundance hit TRY HARDER takes us to the reality of the American college application process and the intersection of class, race, and educational opportunity as they navigate a quintessential rite of passage and make it their own.
The Six
Directed by Arthur Jones. Executive Produced by James Cameron, THE SIX is the untold story of RMS Titanic’s Chinese passengers. An extraordinary story of survival and dignity in the face of racism and anti-immigrant policy.
Reflection: A Walk With Water
Director Emmett Brennan. Reckoning with the reality of a changing climate, Brennan walks 200 miles next to the Los Angeles aqueduct in search of a vision for humanity worth living for—what he discovers has everything to do with water. A Tribeca favorite.
Ride the Wave
Directed by Martyn Robertson. Scottish Surf champion Ben Larg’s bigger challenge is the biggest and most dangerous cold water waves in the world at Mullaghmore. Danger, opportunity, parental dilemma collide, propelling Ben and his family towards an unknown destiny.
Have You Heard About Greg?
Directed by Steve Ecclesine (World Premiere). HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT GREG: A Journey of Faith, Hope and Humor puts a human face—Greg O’Brien’s—on the most terrifying disease of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. The film features amazing experts committed to the fight against Alzheimer’s who share their experience and wisdom about how to deal with an invisible enemy that is quietly killing millions of people each year around the world and will affect millions more in years to come.
Boulevard: A Hollywood Story ;
Directed by Jeffrey Schwarz. Dickson Hughes and Richard Stapley, two young songwriters and romantic partners, find themselves caught in movie star Gloria Swanson’s web when she hires them to write a musical version of “Sunset Boulevard.” Life imitates art when Gloria falls for Richard, and the men find themselves living a real-life version of the classic film.
Entangled: The Race to Save Right Whales from Extinction
Directed by David Abel, ENTANGLED is a Jackson Wild award-winning, feature-length film about how climate change has accelerated a collision between one of the world’s most endangered species, North America’s most valuable fishery, and a federal agency mandated to protect both.
Dear Ike: Lost Letters to a Teen Idol
Directed by Dion Labriola. In the feature-length animated documentary “Dear Ike: Lost Letters to a Teen Idol” Los Angeles filmmaker Dion Labriola recounts his all-consuming childhood quest to contact his teen idol, Ike Eisenmann (of Walt Disney’s Escape to Witch Mountain fame). The goal of his mission—to ask Ike to star in an animated science-fiction epic that he was forever developing in an overstuffed three-ring binder.
Witness Underground
Scott Homan’s feature documentary that reveals the insular DIY artist community that emerged within the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Minneapolis. The artists at the heart of the local music scene have their faith tested in deeply personal ways. They battle for positive mental health and push the boundaries of their religion’s norms, which frowns on music, fame and success and where leaving often means being banned from interacting with your entire family and social circle for life.