"IFS Film Fest is ...True North for any cinephiliac"
- Lana and Lilly Wachowski
(Directors / Writers of "The Matrix", "V for Vendetta", "Cloud Atlas", "Sens8")
IFS / L.A. FILM FEST - LOS ANGELES & HOLLYWOOD, CA
Paul Thomas Anderson's "Phantom Thread" & "Inherent Vice" , Greta Gerwig's "Lady Bird" , Quentin Tarantino's "The Hateful Eight" , Tom Ford's "Nocturnal Animals" (starring Amy Adams & Jake Gyllenhaal), Lars von Trier's "Nymphomaniac", David Cronenberg's "Map To The Stars", Harmony Korine's "Spring Breakers", James Franco's "The Disaster Artist" have all screened at the IFS / L.A. Film Festival.
New cinema from John Hillcoat, Craig Gillespie, Scott Cooper, John Lee Hancock, Jim Jarmusch, Atom Egoyan, Lana and Lilly Wachowski has also premiered at our annual film festival, alongside the annual slate of over 100+ new films, including more than 40 feature-length films, from up-and-coming filmmakers - all newly discovered by the IFS Film Society Membership.
CELEBRITY FESTIVAL GUESTS:
Celebrity Guest Festival Attendees include Karen Gillan ("Guardians of the Galaxy", "Dr. Who"), Malcolm McDowell ("Clockwork Orange"), Lou Diamond Phillips ("Stand & Deliver", "Young Guns", "La Bamba"), Rosanna Arquette ("Pulp Fiction"), Mena Suvari ("American Beauty"), Illeana Douglas ("Cape Fear", "Goodfellas"), David Strathairn (Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln"), Michael Madsen (Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" and "Reservoir Dogs"), Henry Jaglom ("Eating"), Edie McClurg ("Ferris Bueller's Day Off"), Lance Henriksen ("Aliens", "Terminator", "Gladiator"), Andy Dick ("News Radio"), Blake Clark ("The Waterboy"), Lynn Lowry, Kier O'Donell (Clint Eastwood's "American Sniper"), Ethan Embry ("That Thing You Do", "Can't Hardly Wait", "Empire Records"), comedian Doug Benson, all represent just a small sampling of the cinema celebrities and icons that stopped by IFS's L.A. Film Festival over the last 30 years!
The legendary Piper Laurie, Clu Gulager, and Sid Haig were also all honored guests at the IFS / L.A. Film Festival, prior to their passings.
Surprise visitors include directors Patty Jenkins ("Wonder Woman"), John Hillcoat ("The Road","Triple 9"), and Melanie Mayron, as well as actors including Alan Blumenfeld, Rick Glassman, Priscilla Barnes, Tom Everett Scott, Steven Culp, and Jane Lynch and so many more!
INDEPEDENT FILMMAKERS SHOWCASE - LOS ANGELES:
The Independent Filmmakers Showcase© of Los Angeles (IFS/L.A.) was created to assist and to discover groundbreaking new cinema; by providing development opportunities for filmmakers through public and private screenings and meet-up events for new and under-appreciated films, and in the support of both film restoration and cinema venue preservation via grassroots fundraising, as well as volunteer membership donation of time and professional services.
The IFS biggest and most prestigious event of each year is the IFS / L.A. FILM FESTIVAL. This festival is held each spring at the world-famous Grove in Los Angeles and the cinema venues of LA LIVE.
The L.A. Film Festival is host to hundreds of film screenings in theaters across Beverly Hills, L.A., and Santa Monica, including two weeks of screenings and events at our legendary Los Angeles "home venues" of L.A. LIVE & The Grove.
ABOUT THE FILM FEST:
Our Los Angeles based Film Fest is a celebration of independent film-making, held in cinemas across Los Angeles (including Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Hollywood), and features screenings from both emerging and established filmmakers, with press events, parties, forums, panels, and Hollywood-level film premieres.
Supporting cinema preservation year-round, the IFS membership community of over 150 filmmakers, students, and industry professionals, who are are dedicated to the discovery and promotion of independent cinema, and focused on finding new filmmakers from around the world to premiere at our world famous IFS/L.A. Film Festival.
One of the more unique things about our annual L.A. Film Festival is how our selected films are found and judged for acceptance. With many members of our 150+ Film Society Membership meeting up weekly to watch and review new films, in a crowded cinema setting, at one of our three IFS Screening Rooms (located across Los Angeles).
As a result of that process; all films accepted to our annual film festival have been judged by dozens-upon-dozens of film professionals and cinema fanatics that make up our Film Society Membership who watch and experience each submission in a true cinema venue setting - the way films are meant to be seen.
Accepted film submissions to the IFS / L.A. Film Fest can proudly note that their submission was beloved by a cross-section of Hollywood film fanatics that experienced their screening in a true cinema setting.
DISCOVERIES AND RETROSPECTIVES:
Known globally for uncovering and promoting the most original voices in film making (including Japanese cult legend Nobu Yamaoka). Film icons are celebrated with career-spanning events, including retrospectives on the performance work of Bill Paxton, Lee Marvin, and Eric Bogosian, as well as curated events celebrating the cinema of Tom Noonan, and Kenneth Anger.
Kenneth Anger's rare version of "Scorpio Rising", ROAR (starring Melanie Griffith and Tippi Hedren), "The Fourth Dimension" from Jan Kwiecinski, Aleksei Fedorchenko, and Harmony Korine (and starring Val Kilmer) all received special early premieres at IFS Independent Filmmakers Showcase events, that created a buzz for eventual nationwide release.
Recently, the IFS / L.A. Film Festival hosted premiere film screening events for the Kino Lorber Republic Pictures Horror Collection release, and for Grindhouse Releasing's new 4k restoration of the grindhouse classic "Hollywood 90028".
INDEPENDENT FILMMAKERS SHOWCASES of Los Angeles
Founded in the early 1990's, the Independent Filmmakers Showcase was created by film students hosting screenings of obscure films, and evolved into a professional organization hosting the premiere film showcase series events and creation of new cinemas.
IFS Independent Film Fest in Los Angeles supports the creation of new cinemas for independent film screenings, film forums and preservation of classic film venues; fostering a large community of filmmakers, students, and industry professionals dedicated to independent cinema.
Our Film Festival Award Ceremony takes place each spring in Beverly Hills, next to the Academy for Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences©® building (home of the Oscars©®) with screenings held over ten days at various venues including The Grove & Regal Cinemas at L.A. LIVE, and more!
Our annual awards honor the best in independent cinema from the past year.
Films are eligible for sponsor-awarded prizes in many genre categories each year.
Best Screenplay First Place is Awarded $4,000.00
All filmmakers receive complimentary passes to the complete film festival, and all award winners are honored publicly at our IFS Award Ceremony Events.
Officially Selected films, including Film Festival Award Winners may not automatically receive cash or prizes. Prizes are determined by gifts donated through friends of the festival each season.
The Los Angeles (L.A.) Independent Filmmakers Showcase and its annual IFS Film Festival is operated without major corporate sponsorship and without any studio or corporate programming oversight, with all events funded through public ticketed attendance, and profits donated to cinema restoration, future film festival screenings, and events.