UPDATE: In light of Corona-virus, we want to assure our filmmakers that we are fully committed to run our events and honor all filmmakers who have submitted to us from around the world.

*** We are currently taking submissions for the 2021 event! ***

Let's celebrate the diversity of international cinema in the city that has been continuously shaping this industry and art form since the beginning of its history. LA Festival of Cinema aspires to showcase the newest talent in the independent film industry and create an event where films of different backgrounds can provide entertainment for anyone who's a fan of cinema.

Program/Official Selection
We aim to create a festival program expressing the diversity of international independent cinema. We will select the best, and most interesting submissions to be screened in front of the live audience of Beyond Baroque.

Filmmaker Roundtable on Distribution for Indie Filmmakers
Moderated by local industry professionals, all attending filmmakers will be invited to participate in an intimate roundtable concerning issues of distribution in the independent filmmaking world. Don't miss out on this unique opportunity to receive feedback & advice tailored to your project!

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LAFC is run in association with Close:Up, a collection of international film festivals supporting indie filmmaking. By establishing a working network among filmmakers, producers and marketing professionals, we share one common goal: to forge productive and lasting relationships between independent filmmakers and audiences.

Awards & Prizes

✧ The best films of each category will go on to compete for the festival awards, which will be handed out in various categories.
✧ We will be conducting interviews with attending filmmakers at the event.
✧ In addition to certificates and laurels, winners will also receive invitations to VOD distribution deals.

Rules & Terms

✧ All films must be submitted in English or with English subtitles.

✧ All films must have been made in or after 2015.

✧ Filmmakers are responsible for sorting out the copyright on their own materials.

✧ By submitting to us, you give us the right to screen your film in front of a live audience at the next edition of the festival.

✧ Nominations: All films nominated for every category.
Official Selection: Films selected for screening will be notified via email. If you received a Nomination email, but no Official Selection email, it means your film will not be screened, but is still a contender for an award in its category.
Award Winners: Chosen from both the Nominations and the Official Selection.

✧ We may promote clips from your film on social media, based on the press kits you provide us with.

✧ We retain the right to change the date and venue of the festival under special circumstances. All filmmakers will be informed about any changes through our online platforms.

✧ We place no restrictions on your work in terms of premiere status or whether your work has been made available online.

✧ Any technical issues with the submitted films are 100% the responsibility of the filmmakers. If, at the time of judging, your video file doesn’t work or doesn’t have English subtitles (if in a language other than English), it will be automatically rejected, without a refund. Please contact the festival team ASAP if there are any issues with the submission process, and a solution will be found.

✧ We cannot provide refunds.

✧ By submitting to us you agree to our terms and conditions and to receiving marketing newsletters and discounts about film festivals in the form of emails. We will never sell your information to third parties.

✧ We reserve the right to update our terms and conditions.

7 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • DosVelas Pictures

    A joke of a "festival". Our movie was selected, then nominated, then won the best documentary award. Still it wasn't screened at the festival and NO ONE contacted us since we received the automated notification. Not to invite us to attend the festival as audience, not even to give feedback. We really don't understand how Film Freeway tolerates this kind of festivals to get money from applications when they don't have anything to offer the filmmakers at all. It is a total lack of respect for people who work hard and try to move that work forward.

    October 2019
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    Response from festival:

    Hi Paco, we appreciate and take note of your honest feedback - we're a young organization with big ambitions, so every piece of criticism can only help us grow and better serve filmmakers. We'll try to briefly explain our process, though we might repeat ourselves from the last time we chatted, when we invited you to our event back in April.
    As previously mentioned, our main goal is to support and promote independent filmmaking - we try to do this through live screenings, awards, networking sessions and an educational component (in the case of our first edition, we held a filmmaker roundtable about independent distribution with local industry professional Sean Flanagan). Since we're limited in screening time, we are only able to screen a small selection of films. Nonetheless, we receive a large amount of exceptional independent films that we want to support in some way. If we're not able to screen all the amazing films we receive, we made the choice to nominate more films and give more awards than we can physically present during one evening. We do this for one main reason - to help indie filmmakers. Time and time again, filmmakers have expressed to us the value of these awards for their development. So we continuously try to celebrate as many of these talented filmmakers on their professional journeys in any way we can. While, in an ideal world, we could nominate and screen all these great works, we hope that our chosen current strategy is more rewarding than a plain rejection (due to time-constraints).
    That said, we're of course working very hard on extending our screening time by as much as possible, but we hope you understand that this is a very slow process. Additionally, we are always open to providing feedback to filmmakers who request it.
    Once again, we're very sorry you felt disappointed by our festival. Please know that we're working on communicating our exhibition and promotion strategies in a clearer manner, so there is no more confusion. We thank you once again for the privilege of viewing and awarding "Mu and the Vanishing World" and we wish you all the best with your future projects!

  • Ben Pfeiffer

    Thorough and efficient communication. Very accessible and passionate team. Great sense of community.

    April 2019
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you so much, Ben!

  • Phillip Hollins

    Thank you so much for selecting "Blackballed-Pilot" as a Finalist for Best Writer in your festival. Really wanted to be there but I'm just extremely appreciative to be part of a talented group of writers throughout the entire process.

    April 2019
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    Response from festival:

    Thank you for your kind words, Phillip!

  • Karoline Hallengren

    Amazing festival. The communcation is perfect - and I got all needed answers for my questions up to the festival event. Thank you so much to the Jury for giving us the award of "Special Mention". We are so incredibly happy. My actor went to LA to attend the festival and represent us, and he had such a great experience. So, thank you so much for making it happen! :)

    April 2019
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    Response from festival:

    Karoline, thank you so much for your thoughtful comments! It was lovely to have you cast with us!

  • Jamin Bricker

    LAFC put on a great event in Venice. Communication was fantastic and they showed good movies. I'd submit again.

    April 2019
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    Response from festival:

    Thanks for your feedback, Jamin!