HOLLYWOOD REEL INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL™®
Hollywood's largest and most star-studded independent film festival - dedicated to showcasing the best in new and independent cinema.
From humble beginnings at the New Beverly Cinema, to becoming the longest-running film festival at L.A. LIVE - the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Fest is honored to be presenting the biggest festival program of in-person Hollywood film premiere screenings in Los Angeles!
Featuring public screenings for between 150 and 350 movies annually at our legendary film festival, with screenings for every accepted film taking place at the greatest Hollywood cinemas with the most state-of-the-art sound and projection.
CELEBRITY GUESTS & ATTENDEES
Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival celebrity guests have included Pierce Brosnan (James Bond 007), Sharon Stone (Casino / Basic Instinct), Hilary Duff (Lizzie McGuire), Josh Brener (Silicon Valley), Jamie Foxx (Django Unchained), Harry Dean Stanton (Alien / Paris, Texas / Avengers), Joe Mantegna (Criminal Minds), Doug Stanhope (Louie), 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), Tara Reid (American Pie), Lin Shaye (Insidious), Sally Kirkland (The Sting), Dean Cameron (Summer School), Richard Hatch (Battlestar Galactica), Ed Asner (Mary Tyler Moore Show / Elf), Dominique Swain (Lolita), Dan Marino Jr. (Mentally Al), Al Lubel, Rick Shapiro (Marc Maron / Project X), Max E. Williams (Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty), Tom Everett Scott (That Thing You Do), Clark Duke (The Office, Hot Tub Time Machine), Dan Castellaneta (the voice of Homer Simpson) and so many more...
...check out just a small sample of our celebrity photos - here on FilmFreeway!
HONORING CINEMA LEGENDS
Award of Excellence recipients include some of the greatest cinema luminaries of all time: Peter O'Toole, David Lynch, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Warren Beatty, Kirk Douglas, Martin Landau, Vanessa Redgrave, Frances Fisher, Tinto Brass, Don Hertzfeldt, Dolly Parton, Robert Drew, Bill Plympton, Gerard Depardieu, Helmut Berger, John Heard, Ruben Ostlund, Jon Polito, Robin Williams, Elaine May and the amazing Harry Dean Stanton have all been honored with HRIFF retrospectives, honors, and festival events.
The Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival is the most star-studded independent film fest in Los Angeles, with all the movie legends above, as well as many other celebrities and cinema icons, all appearing at the festival over the last three decades.
HRIFF is a classic and traditional Film Festival - not a "laurel farm" nor an "online festival", but a place where all Officially Selected films are given the opportunity to screen in screen in a true motion picture cinema, and where projects are picked up for distribution every year.
HISTORICALLY INDEPENDENT - New Beverly Cinema
Growing to prominence as part of Quentin Tarantino's New Beverly Cinema, the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival has now partnered with the largest and most glamorous venue in Los Angeles: L.A. LIVE (Regal Cinemas / Microsoft Theater / L.A. Convention Center / Crypto.com aka Staples Center sports arena) over the past decade to grow into an event that hosts hundreds of film premieres across multiple weeks, alongside our legendary Award Ceremony, Red Carpet, Press Events & Receptions and Parties.
From those grindhouse beginnings, it is assured that everyone involved with the festival— from the HRIFF Membership, Judges, and Festival Programmers, to the Event Organizers, Staffers, and Volunteers—is a passionate cinema historian, movie nerd, and film outsider, all fueled by a dedication to our festival's stated mission of recognizing the best new filmmakers while discovering important cinema from around the globe. HRIFF combines film premieres, parties, celebrity events, and film fandom, all held in the most iconic and best cinemas in Hollywood.
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, Danny Trejo, 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, Takuji Suzuki, Rainey Qualley, Daryl Hannah, Tom Noonan, Jeremy Sisto, and Jonathan Pryce are only a few of the notable HRIFF alumni to have participated in past festivals.
HRIFF is also 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 films to have had HRIFF premiere screenings include "Manchester By The Sea", "The Act of Killing", "Anomalisa", "Force Majeure", "The Look of Silence", "Rules Don't Apply", "Trumbo", and "At Eternity's Gate".
Academy Award© Winning Short Films to have premiered at HRIFF include "The Lady In Number 6" (documentary short film winner), as well as the animated works of Bill Plympton, and the Oscar© Winning animated short "Mr. Hublot".
Other Academy Award winning films to have screened at HRIFF include: "Oppenheimer", "The Lighthouse", "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood", and "The Holdovers".
Additional major Award Winning films to have premiered at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival include: "Lucky", "Blade of the Immortal", "The Sisters Brothers", "Killing of a Sacred Deer" and many more!
DISTRIBUTION & ACCLAIM
A small sample of screenings and festival discoveries to receive distribution and acclaim include "Drive", "Bridegroom", "Assault on Wall Street: Bailout", "A Day At The Pool", "Henri", "Sex, Violence and Family Values", "Forget Me Not", "Bible Storyland", "The Silent Thief", "Studio One Forever", "The Lady In Number 6", "The Act of Killing", "The Look of Silence", "Force Majeure" and many more.
As mentioned above, HRIFF is a classic, traditional Film Festival - where all Officially Selected films are given the opportunity to screen in a true motion picture cinema theater.
NEW TALENT DISCOVERIES
Known for our new talent discoveries, HRIFF is proud to represent success stories that include Keir Gilchrist (Netflix's Atypical), Alanna Masterson (from HRIFF Best Actress to a starring role in The Walking Dead), Jake Bongiovi, HRIFF Award Winners Savannah Kennick (Arrested Development), Alex Meraz (Twilight & DC's Suicide Squad), Toby Hemingway (Black Swan), and Tyler Blackburn (Pretty Little Liars).
CINEMA RETROSPECTIVES & RESTORATIONS
HRIFF has overseen Retrospectives, Restorations, and Tributes to Kenneth Lonergan, Haskell Wexler, Michael Mann, John Cassavetes, David Bowie, Alan Rickman, Warren Oates, Burt I. Gordon, Dusan Makavejev, David Lynch, and many other cinema icons.
The Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival is proud to have also shown festival-funded restorations of rare and restored films from Tinto Brass and Hugo Niebeling.
LARGEST SELECTION OF PROFESSIONAL JUDGES
Partnering with local film membership groups allows the festival to have HRIFF film submissions judged not only by our legendary members, but also by an additional 100+ collection of Los Angeles-based industry professionals, journalists, and film creators who watch all submissions in a movie theater group setting experience that ensures every movie submission is seen in its entirety, by over 40 judges.
AFFORDABLE PRICING
Our unique judging process, in addition to huge amounts of volunteer support, allow savings that are passed on to keep filmmaker costs at the lowest price point in the industry. Even during recent years of extreme inflation our festival has made dedicated efforts to reduce festival entry and submission costs and offer the lowest legitimate submission prices possible.
LARGEST HOLLYWOOD FESTIVAL + BROADEST FILM 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.
This season the festival has also opened up submissions to cinema podcasters - with the best podcasters chosen to be invited to be a part of the festival itself!
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.
The festival invites you to Join our historic family of filmmakers, ...by submitting your project today!
All Officially Selected films are eligible to be honored with our 28 annual HRIFF Awards of Merit. These Awards are given out annually at the historic (and often celebrity filled) HRIFF Award Ceremony - which has been held at various locations within L.A. LIVE (Crypto.com/LA Convention Center/Microsoft Theater) over the past ten years.
Hollywood Screenplay Contest - 1st Place Winner for Best Screenplay is awarded $3,000.00 each festival season. All Screenplay Contest entries are eligible for Screenplay Contest Awards.
HRIFF Award Winners may also be eligible for potential additional sponsored prizes, to be announced during the festival.
Award of Excellence Honors for Lifetime Achievements in Cinema also are given each year at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival's legendary Award Ceremony.