THE HOLLYWOOD REEL INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL®™
Hollywood's most star-studded film festival for new and independent filmmakers.
HRIFF is the longest-running film festival at L.A. LIVE and currently hosts the largest festival programming slate of new film screenings & Hollywood premieres in Los Angeles, with an annual slate of over 200 films - all of which are shown in the greatest Los Angeles cinemas featuring the best projection & sound in Hollywood.
CELEBRITY GUESTS & ATTENDEES
The Hollywood Reel Independent Film Fesitval has featured celebrity guests including: Pierce Brosnan (James Bond 007), Sharon Stone (Casino), Hilary Duff (Lizzie McGuire), Josh Brener (Silicon Valley), Jamie Foxx (Django Unchained), Joe Mantegna (Criminal Minds), Doug Stanhope, Harry Dean Stanton (Alien / The Avengers), Donna Mills (Knotts Landing), Laura Prepon (That 70s Show), Timothy Busfield (West Wing), Frances Fisher (Titanic), Melissa Gilbert (Little House on the Prairie), Neil Breen (Twisted Pair), Uwe Boll (Postal), Alan Howarth (Halloween), casting director Bonnie Timmerman (Black Hawk Down), John Ennis (Mr. Show), Lin Shaye (Insidious), Sally Kirkland (Anna), Dominique Swain (Lolita), Dan Marino Jr. (Mentally Al), Al Lubel, Rick Shapiro (Maron), Tom Everett Scott (That Thing You Do), Clark Duke (The Office, Kick Ass, Hot Tub Time Machine), Dan Castellaneta (the voice of Homer Simpson).
These legends and so many more notable cinema icons have appeared at our annual Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival, making it the most star-studded indpendent film festival in Los Angeles.
FESTIVAL HISTORY: HISTORICALLY INDEPENDENT
Growing to prominence from early years at Quentin Tarantino's New Beverly Cinema, the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival now partners with the largest, most glamorous venue in Los Angeles: L.A. LIVE / Microsoft Theater / Crypto.com arena, to host weeks of film premieres and party events each year.
Dedicated in our mission to recognize the best new filmmakers, and discover important cinema around-the-globe; HRIFF combines film premieres, parties, and celebrity events, all held in the most iconic cinema venues of Hollywood, and Los Angeles, California USA.
HONORING CINEMA LEGENDS
HRIFF Award of Excellence recipients include some of the greatest cinema luminaries of all time, including Peter O'Toole, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Warren Beatty, Kirk Douglas, Martin Landau, Vanessa Redgrave, Gerard Depardieu, Frances Fisher, Tinto Brass, Don Hertzfeldt, Dolly Parton, Robert Drew, Bill Plympton, Helmut Berger, John Heard, Ruben Ostlund, Jon Polito, Robin Williams, Elaine May and Harry Dean Stanton.
LEGENDARY HOLLYWOOD ALUMNI
Werner Herzog, Ron Howard, Michael Apted, Errol Morris, D.A. Pennebaker, Emily Mortimer, James Franco, James Caan, Fred Roos, Paul Rudd, Guy Pierce, Joe Lo Truglio, Blake Anderson, Mercedes Ruehl, Ian McShane, Edward James Olmos, Sandra Oh, Lisa Kudrow, Jason Alexander, Bryce Dallas Howard, Elliott Gould, Terri Polo, Janeane Garofalo, Zack Braff, Winnie Holzman, Martin Starr, Fred Willard, Tony Hale, Richard Lewis, Doug Jones, David Arquette, Carla Gallo, Bai Ling, C. Thomas Howell, Harry Lennix, Dean Cameron, Takuji Suzuki, Daryl Hannah, Tom Noonan, Jeremy Sisto, and Jonathan Pryce are just a few of the notable HRIFF alumni to have participated in past festivals.
HRIFF is very proud to have premiered the newest international feature from legendary Japanese filmmaker Sion Sono, director of Suicide Club, Why Don't You Play In Hell, The Forest of Love, and Prisoners of the Ghostland (starring Nicolas Cage).
ACADEMY AWARD© WINNING DISCOVERIES
Oscar© and Golden Globe© winning & nominated HRIFF premiere screenings include "Oppenheimer", "The Lighthouse", "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood", "Manchester By The Sea", "The Act of Killing", "Anomalisa", "Force Majeure", "The Look of Silence", "Rules Don't Apply", "Trumbo", "At Eternity's Gate", and "The Holdovers".
HRIFF premieres to win other major awards include: "Lucky", "Blade of the Immortal", "The Sisters Brothers", and "Killing of a Sacred Deer".
Academy Award© Winning Shorts that premiered at HRIFF include "The Lady In Number 6" short documentary winner, the animated works of Bill Plympton, and the Oscar© Winning animated short film "Mr. Hublot".
A sample of HRIFF screenings and discoveries to receive wide distribution and acclaim include: "The Look of Silence", "Assault on Wall Street: Bailout", "Bridegroom", "A Day At The Pool", "Henri", "Sex, Violence and Family Values", "Forget Me Not", "Bible Storyland", "The Silent Thief", "The Lady In Number 6", "Drive", "The Act of Killing", "Force Majeure" and so many more.
NEW TALENT DISCOVERIES
HRIFF may be the biggest festival for new talent discoveries, with recent success stories that include Keir Gilchrist (who became the star of Netflix's Atypical), Alanna Masterson (from winning HRIFF Award for Best Actress, to starring in a lead role with AMC's The Walking Dead for six seasons), Jake Bongiovi, Alex Meraz (later cast in Twilight & DC's Suicide Squad), Toby Hemingway (Black Swan), Tyler Blackburn (Pretty Little Liars), and HRIFF Award Winner Savannah Kennick (featured in episodes of Netflix's Arrested Development).
CINEMA RETROSPECTIVES & RESTORATIONS
Festival retrospectives have included tributes to: Kenneth Lonergan, Haskell Wexler, Michael Mann, John Cassavetes, David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Warren Oates, Burt I Gordon and Dusan Makavejev, as well as festival-funded restorations of rare films from Tinto Brass, Hugo Niebeling, and many more.
LARGEST L.A. FILM FEST - WITH BROADEST CATEGORY SELECTION
The Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival's size allows multiple weeks of film programming, and as a result can offer the largest, most inclusive selection of submission categories for festival screenings and showcases.
Featuring the broadest range of genres, styles and categories: Feature Films, Short Films, Dramatic Films, Drama Shorts, Comedic Films, Comedy Shorts, Narrative Films, Non Narrative Films, Documentary Features, Doc Shorts, Animation, Horror, Action, Thriller, Mystery, Noir, Musicals, Westerns, L.G.B.T.Q. Films, Student Films, Music Videos, Screenplays, Teleplays, Live Table Readings, V.R. Virtual Reality, Web Content, Episodic Television and Streaming Content, International, American, and Global World Cinema all welcome in the festival programming, with screening categories specifically devoted to premiering a significant number of films from all of the above categories, and more, all in front of our large Los Angeles film festival audiences.
These impressive offerings combine to create the only Hollywood Film Festival not-to-be-missed, for both audiences and independent filmmakers.
HRIFF is the only Hollywood Film Festival known world-wide for screening the largest selection of up-and-coming filmmakers, while hosting the biggest selection of celebrity guests and attendees!
Our festival invites you to Join the historic family of HRIFF filmmakers, by submitting your project today!
A small sample of our selected films are additionally eligible for our HRIFF Awards of Merit. Our Awards of Merit are given annually at the historic HRIFF Award Ceremony & Gala, also held at L.A. LIVE.
Cinema Award Winners of Merit may also be eligible for potential sponsored prizes - as announced each season during the festival.
Screenplay Contest 1st Place is awarded $1,000.00
All Unproduced Screenplay Contest entries are eligible for our HRIFF Screenplay Awards.
Award of Excellence Honors for Lifetime Achievements in Cinema are given each year at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival Award Ceremony & Gala.