Andrei Gruzsniczki's The Other Irene with Andi Vasluianu looking for his missing wife (top); Nik Xhelilaj in Artan Minarolli's Alive!, about Albanian blood feuds (upper middle); Igor Sterk's 9:06, an unusual suicide case (lower middle); Maria Takacs' Secret Years featuring closeted lesbians during Communism (bottom)
The 5th SEE Fest — Los Angeles' South East European Film Festival — will take place at the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles and UCLA's James Bridges Theatre from April 29 through May 3. According to its organizers, SEE Fest is the only festival in the United States dedicated to movies made in that (very, very) culturally diverse part of the world. [SEE Fest highlights]
Among this year's screening films are Artan Minarolli's Alive!, an examination of the consequences of a certain type of traditional family values — blood feuds — in Albania; Marianna Economou's Bells, Threads & Miracles, about curious happenings at the St. George Monastery on the Princes’ Islands of Turkey, where 100,000 Muslims come pray for miracles at a Christian Orthodox church; and Atil Inaç's A Step into the Darkness, best film winner at the 2010 Tiburon (Calif.) Film Festival, in which a Iraq War refugee in Istanbul becomes enmeshed with radical ideologues.
Also, Andrei Gruzsniczki's The Other Irene, a mystery-cum-political drama in which a Romanian husband (Andi Vasluianu) meets all sorts of bureaucratic obstacles while searching for his missing wife; Mariá Takács' Secret Years, in which Hungarian lesbians remember what life was like under Communism; Igor Sterk's 9:06, a psychological drama in which a Slovenian police inspector (Igor Samobor) becomes obsessed with an unusual suicide case; and Boris Mitic's humorous documentary about life in Serbia in the last two decades, Goodbye, How are you?.
Additionally, SEE Fest will be hosting its 2nd annual Business Conference on South East Europe’s cinema on May 3 from 9am-1pm at the Center for Managing Enterprises in Media, Entertainment & Sports (MEMES) at UCLA's Anderson School of Management complex. The SEE Fest Business Conference is described as "a half-day seminar on packaging and financing international productions, producing in South East Europe, and the role of new media in distribution of foreign films."
The 5th annual SEE Fest runs from Thursday, April 29 through Monday, May 3, 2010. Screenings April 29 & 30 start at 6:30pm, May 1 & 2 start at 1:00pm and will be held at the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles, 5750 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 100, Los Angeles, Ca. 90036.
The festival's closing night will take place on Monday, May 3rd, at 6:30pm at the James Bridges Theatre on the UCLA campus in Westwood.
For tickets and further information go to www.seefilmla.org, or www.itsmyseat.com (SEE Fest).
Photos: SEE Fest
Calling all film lovers in Los Angeles!
On May 15th, we will be creating the trailer for this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival, shooting interviews with people from all over Los Angeles about their passion for movies.
What moves you? What's your favorite movie, scene, actor or director? Your earliest memory of going to the theatre? Your favorite action scene? Love blockbusters, documentaries, obscure French cinema? Comedy, horror, drama? Whatever your passion, we want to hear from you.
We're not looking for actors. This is not a performance. We want you to be yourself. Tell us off the cuff and from the heart what you love, what you hate, what makes you laugh, what makes you scared, what makes you cry. Our mission is to express the diversity of people, opinions and films in Los Angeles while unifying them all under one common emotion: The passion for movies.
Dozens of these interviews will be cut together into a series of trailers that will screen before the films at the festival.
We are looking for volunteers, there is no pay but it is a great opportunity.
To sign up, email our casting director with the information below. If you're selected, we'll contact you with all the specifics.
Alex Christopoulos, casting director
laffcasting@gmail.com
Shoot date: May 15
Location: Woodland Hills, CA
Please include:
1. Name
2. Profession
3. Phone Contact
4. Snapshot of yourself (no head shots required!)
5. Top 3 favorite films
6. What do you feel passionate about and why?
7. Do you speak a language other than English? if so, which one?
8. Have you attended the LA Film Festival before? If yes, describe any movies or experiences you remember fondly. To jog your memory, here's a list of highlights from the festival over the years: https://sites.google.com/site/laffcasting/home
Thank you for taking the time to participate. We look forward to hearing from you!
Please forward to anyone else that might be interested in taking part.
Please submit by Friday May 7th.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Yeldham
Festival Director
The Los Angeles Film Festival