{"id":63410,"date":"2012-06-13T13:49:43","date_gmt":"2012-06-13T13:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/0de2709a84.nxcli.net\/0-kjasnb\/2012\/06\/13\/black-films-at-2012-los-angeles-film-festival\/"},"modified":"2018-12-18T10:53:38","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T10:53:38","slug":"black-films-at-2012-los-angeles-film-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/black-films-at-2012-los-angeles-film-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Films at 2012 Los Angeles Film Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

Black Films at 2012 Los Angeles Film Festival<\/strong>Posted by Wilson Morales<\/p>\n

June 12, 2012<\/p>\n

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From Thursday, June 14 to Sunday, June 24 the 2012 Los Angelese Film Festival<\/strong> will showcase a number of films hoping to land distribution deals for theatrical release.<\/p>\n

Now in its eighteenth year, the LAFF, supported by L.A. LIVE and The Los Angeles Times, is widely recognized as a world-class event, showcasing the best in new American and international cinema and providing the movie-loving public with access to some of the most critically acclaimed filmmakers, film industry professionals, and emerging talent from around the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some notables have already secure release dates such as the Sundance favorite ‘Beasts of the Southern Wild<\/strong>,’ Ava DuVernay<\/strong>‘s ‘Middle of Nowhere<\/strong>,’ ‘Celeste and Jesse Forever<\/strong>‘ with Rashida Jones<\/strong>, and producer Datari Turner<\/strong>‘s ‘LUV<\/strong>.’<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a list of selected films (of color) worth seeing: <\/strong><\/p>\n

A Band Called Death<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Documentary Competition
\n(USA, 2012, 98 mins)
\nWorld Premiere
\nDirected By: Jeff Howlett,
\nMark Covino
\nProducers: Matthew Perniciaro, Scott Mosier, Kevin Mann, Jerry Ferrara
\nCinematographer: Mark Covino
\nEditor: Rich Fox
\nMusic: Sam Retzer, Tim Boland
\nFeaturing: David Hackney, Bobby Hackney, Sr., Dannis Hackney<\/p>\n

Before Bad Brains, the Sex Pistols or even the Ramones, there was Death. Formed in the early ’70s by three teenage brothers from Detroit, Death is credited as being the first black punk band, and the Hackney brothers, David, Bobby, and Dannis, are now considered pioneers in their field. But it wasn\u2019t until recently \u2014 when a dusty 1974 demo tape made its way out of Bobby\u2019s attic nearly 30 years after Death\u2019s heyday \u2014 that anyone outside a small group of punk enthusiasts had even heard of them.<\/p>\n

Equal parts electrifying rockumentary and epic family chronicle, the story of Death is one of brotherly love and fierce, divinely inspired expression.<\/p>\n

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Beasts of the Southern Wild<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Galas
\n(USA, 2011, 91 mins)
\nDirected By: Benh Zeitlin
\nExecutive Producers: Philipp Engelhorn, Paul Mezey, Michael Raisler
\nProducers: Michael Gottwald, Dan Janvey, Josh Penn
\nScreenwriters: Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin
\nCinematographer: Ben Richardson
\nEditors: Crockett Doob, Affonso Gon\u00e7alves
\nMusic: Dan Romer, Benh Zeitlin
\nCast: Quvenzhan\u00e9 Wallis, Dwight Henry<\/p>\n

On an isolated stretch of land called the Bathtub, in the midst of the Mississippi Delta, six-year-old Hushpuppy and her father lead a fiercely independent existence, one seemingly built upon the flotsam and jetsam from a recently struck catastrophe\u2026 or perhaps one that is yet to come. First time actors Dwight Henry and Quvenzhan\u00e9 Wallis give powerhouse performances as father and daughter, two souls whose devotion to each other takes on mythic proportions. In this arresting work of fantastical realism, writer\/director\/composer Benh Zeitlin conjures a startling, triumphant vision of a childhood at the edge of the natural world.<\/p>\n

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Call Me Kuchu<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Documentary Competition
\n(USA, 2012, 87 mins)
\nIn English, Luganda with English subtitles<\/p>\n

US Premiere
\nDirected By: Katherine Fairfax Wright,
\nMalika Zouhali-Worrall
\nExecutive Producer: Jeff Blitz
\nProducer: Malika Zouhali-Worrall
\nCinematographer: Katherine Fairfax Wright
\nMusic: Jonathan Mandabach
\nEditor: Katherine Fairfax Wright<\/p>\n

To be openly gay in Uganda is to risk imprisonment and death. The stirring and heartbreaking Call Me Kuchu exposes the horrors of a homophobic government \u2014 its hatred fueled by right wing American evangelicals \u2014 that terrorizes the LGBT community. Yet brave men and women like David Kato, the country\u2019s first openly gay activist, have fought back at great risk. This intimate and impassioned documentary takes us inside this life and death struggle for human rights. Whether you are familiar with Katos\u2019s story or hearing it for the first time, you will find this a shattering and inspiring testament.<\/p>\n

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Celeste and Jesse Forever<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Summer Showcase
\n(USA, 2011, 91 mins)
\nDirected By: Lee Toland Krieger
\nExecutive Producers: Rashida Jones, Will McCormack
\nProducers: Jennifer Todd, Suzanne Todd, Lee Nelson
\nScreenwriters: Rashida Jones, Will McCormack
\nCinematographer: David Lanzenberg
\nEditor: Yana Gorskaya
\nMusic: Zach Cowie, Sunny Levine
\nCast: Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg, Chris Messina, Ari Graynor, Eric Christian Olsen, Will McCormack, Elijah Wood, Emma Roberts<\/p>\n

Celeste and Jesse are having as hard a time falling out of love as most people have falling in. A Los Angeles couple who married young, they are now going through an \u201camicable\u201d divorce. Their goal is to remain best friends in spite of this rift, but in Lee Toland Krieger\u2019s fresh, delightful romantic comedy, that proves easier said than done.<\/p>\n

Rising star Rashida Jones, who co-wrote the screenplay with Will McCormack, is the overachieving businesswoman Celeste. Andy Samberg is the witty, underachieving Jesse. Their patent chemistry makes their growing estrangement all the more poignant, as well as funny, in this beguiling and surprising anti-love story.<\/p>\n

Four<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Narrative Competition
\n(USA, 2012, 76 mins)
\nWorld Premiere
\nDirected By: Joshua Sanchez
\nExecutive Producer: Neil LaBute
\nProducer: Christine Giorgio
\nScreenwriter: Joshua Sanchez
\nCinematographer: Gregg Conde
\nEditor: David Gutnik
\nMusic: Bryan Senti
\nCast: Wendell Pierce, Emory Cohen, Aja Naomi King, EJ Bonilla<\/p>\n

Over the course of a steamy 4th of July night, four people discover the difficulties of making an honest connection with someone else when they are trapped by the lies they tell themselves.<\/p>\n

In Joshua Sanchez\u2019s psychologically and ethnically complex adaptation of an acclaimed Christopher Shinn play, a father and daughter, each enshrouded in loneliness, reach out for sexual intimacy: he with a nervous, self-hating teenage boy, she with a smooth-talking wannabe homeboy. Wendell Pierce, Aja Naomi King, EJ Bonilla and Emory Cohen shine in this touching, sometimes raw depiction of the evasions, power games and isolation of everyday American life.<\/p>\n

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Gimme the Loot<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Summer Showcase
\n(USA, 2012, 81 mins)
\nDirected By: Adam Leon
\nProducers: Natalie Difford, Dominic Buchanan, Jamund Washington
\nScreenwriter: Adam Leon
\nCinematographer: Jonathan Miller
\nEditor: Morgan Faust
\nMusic: Nicholas Britell
\nCast: Tashiana Washington, Ty Hickson, Meeko, Zoe Lescaze<\/p>\n

The game of graffiti art comes with few rules and a lot of bravado, as young Sofia and Malcolm discover when they try to defend their name after their latest spraypaint masterpiece is defaced by a rival gang. Over the next 48 hours, the two roam the sun-drenched streets of New York, hatching schemes to get enough cash for their master plan \u2014 \u201cbombing\u201d the famous apple in the Mets\u2019 stadium \u2014 all the while figuring out their role in the underground scene and with each other.<\/p>\n

With irresistible performances from its two leads, Gimme the Loot is a warm, spirited look at two kids just trying to get by, one tag at a time.<\/p>\n

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The Iran Job<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Documentary Competition
\n(Germany , Iran , USA, 2012, 93 mins)
\nIn English, Farsi with English subtitles<\/p>\n

World Premiere
\nDirected By: Till Schauder
\nExecutive Producer: Abigail Disney
\nProducers: Sara Nodjoumi, Till Schauder
\nCinematographer: Till Schauder
\nEditor: David Teague
\nMusic: Shahin Nadjafi, Jadugaran, ZedBazi, A2, Kareem Roustum
\nFeaturing: Kevin Sheppard, Leah Sheppard, Hilda, Laleh , Elaheh, Abdullah, Zoran “Z” Milicic, Center, Kami Jamshidvand, Forward, Ali Doraghi, Center, Mehdi Shirjang, Forward, Gholamreza Khajeh, Team Owner, Asadollah Kabir, Coach, Fereidoon Reisi, Manager, Mohammad Ahmadi, Analysis Coach, Ehsan, Driver<\/p>\n

Director Till Schauder spent a year in Iran with journeyman American pro basketball player Kevin Sheppard, who signed on to play for the upstart Iranian Super League team A.S. Shiraz as one of two non-Iranian players (his roommate is a giant Serb). This lively, well-told tale is not simply a standard \u201cfish out of water\u201d sports doc: it\u2019s also a snapshot of the radical fissures in Iranian society. Sheppard, a gregarious charmer, makes friends wherever he goes and forms a fascinating relationship with three strong, independent Iranian women who bristle at the restrictions of an oppressive theocracy. Their touching, unlikely bond makes for an illuminating study in cross cultural understanding.<\/p>\n

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LUV<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Free Screenings
\n(USA, 2012, 96 mins)
\nDirected By: Sheldon Candis
\nExecutive Producer: Thomas B. Fore
\nProducers: Jason Michael Berman, W. Michael Jenson, Gordon Bijelonic, Datari Turner, Joel Newton, James Rosenthal, Common, Derek Dudley
\nScreenwriters: Sheldon Candis, Justin Wilson
\nCinematographer: Gavin Kelly
\nEditor: Jeff Wishengrad
\nMusic: Nuno Malo, Blaqstarr
\nCast: Common, Michael Rainey Jr., Dennis Haysbert, Danny Glover, Charles S. Dutton, Michael Kenneth Williams, Meagan Good<\/p>\n

Eleven-year-old Woody is a bright, softspoken boy who lives with his grandmother and uncle Vincent. One day, Vincent, who is trying to launch a legit business venture after a stretch in prison, decides to teach the boy how to be a man. Despite his best efforts, however, Vincent finds it difficult to shed his former life, and soon Woody is learning far more \u2014 about his uncle and himself \u2014 than he ever expected.<\/p>\n

Boasting two remarkable performances by Common and young Michael Rainey, Jr., LUV is a compelling look at two people, one struggling to escape his past and the other looking ahead to an uncertain future.<\/p>\n

Middle Of Nowhere<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Galas
\n(USA, 2012, 99 mins)
\nDirected By: Ava DuVernay
\nProducers: Howard Barish, Ava DuVernay, Paul Garnes
\nScreenwriter: Ava DuVernay
\nCinematographer: Bradford Young
\nEditor: Spencer Averick
\nMusic: Kathryn Bostic
\nCast: Emayatzy Corinealdi, Omari Hardwick, David Oyelowo, Lorraine Toussaint, Sharon Lawrence, Edwina Findley<\/p>\n

How do you maintain a marriage \u2014 and your own identity \u2014 when your husband has been sentenced to prison for eight years? That is the dilemma facing Ruby, the protagonist of Ava DuVernay\u2019s elegant and powerful new movie. Ruby makes big sacrifices, giving up medical school to focus on her efforts to free her man and maintain her marriage. But is her husband the man she thinks he is? A powerful portrait of a strong woman contending with conflicting feelings of love, guilt and inconvenient desire, Middle of Nowhere marks the arrival of a bold new voice in independent cinema.<\/p>\n

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An Oversimplification of Her Beauty<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Summer Showcase
\n(France , USA, 2011, 90 mins)
\nDirected By: Terence Nance
\nProducers: Terence Nance, James Bartlett, Andrew Corkin
\nScreenwriter: Terence Nance
\nCinematographers: Matthew E. Bray, Shawn Peters
\nEditor: Terence Nance
\nCast: Terence Nance, Namik Minter, Chanelle Pearson<\/p>\n

\u201cYou seem to have captured the attention of an intriguing young lady\u2026 you see that you\u2019ve missed a call. There\u2019s a voice mail; she tells you that she won\u2019t be seeing you tonight.\u201d Thus begins a simple love story, but before there was this film, there was a short. This is the meta-textual story of that short and the story of showing the girl in question the short.<\/p>\n

Popping off the screen with explosive style and energy, director and star Terence Nance adapts and expands his previous film like a musician remixing and improving a classic song. His film playfully pushes the cinematic envelope while plumbing the depths of heartbreak.<\/p>\n

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Question Bridge: Black Males<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Free Screenings
\n(USA, 2012, 75 mins)
\nDirected By: Chris Johnson,
\nHank Willis Thomas
\nProducers: Bayet\u00e9 Ross Smith, Kamal Sinclair, Deborah Willis, Delroy Lindo, Jesse Williams
\nCinematographer: Chris Johnson
\nEditors: Will Sylvester, Rosa White<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to engage individuals in conversation, but how does one engage a broad community? This multimedia project from artists Chris Johnson and Hank Willis Thomas, along with Bayet\u00e9 Ross Smith and Kamal Sinclair, provides a unique opportunity for dialogue between black men nationwide. For the past four years, Johnson and company have traveled to eleven cities, recording African-American men asking candid questions on camera, which were then answered by other men, who might live next door or thousands of miles away. Stretching across more than just geographic boundaries, but also generational and class divides, Question Bridge is redefining the black male experience in 21st century America.<\/p>\n

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