The LA Film Festival may be in its 24th year, but the local independent film showcase is stepping up with a new fall date, starry premieres featuring the likes of Tiffany Haddish and Henry Cavill and a re-energized commitment to spotlighting documentaries and diverse filmmakers.
The festival kicks off Thursday with the world premiere of "Echo in the Canyon," a Jakob Dylan-produced music documentary about the Laurel Canyon music scene of The Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield and the Mamas and the Papas and how it continues affecting musicians today. The event, which will be held at the thematically appropriate Ford Theatres in Hollywood will end with a live performance under the stars.
It closes September 28 with the premiere of "Nomis," an independently-financed police thriller about an online predator from first-time director David Raymond. It features a notable cast including Cavill, Alexandra Daddario, Nathan Fillion and Stanley Tucci.
"It's a role I know no one has seen Henry do. He's brilliant in it," Raymond said.
The bookends of "Echo in the Canyon" and "Nomis" encapsulate what the "new" LA Film Festival represents, festival director Jennifer Cochis said.
"We're trying to support films and filmmakers who might not be amplified elsewhere and at the same time provide audiences with unique filmgoing experiences," Cochis said. "Opening in the canyon with a musical performance after? That's something I won't be able to replicate."
Cochis, who is in her first full year as the head of the festival, has been behind many of the changes, including pushing the often-overlooked festival from its longtime spot in the summer back to September. It now follows some of the year's biggest festivals like the Toronto International Film Festival and Telluride.
"There was a disconnect between the types of films the festival was playing in its core programming and what was out in theaters. Moving it to the fall is almost realigning ourselves with the type of storytelling that was present in the fall corridor," Cochis said. "It feels like a more natural fit."
The festival which is put on by Film Independent, the organization behind the Indie Spirit Awards, has also long supported diverse and unknown filmmakers, and this year is no different. Of the feature films, 42 percent were directed by women and 39 percent by persons of color. In the short film section, the numbers are even higher.
It also features offerings from some of the year's higher profile festivals, including the buzzy climbing documentary "Free Solo," ''Tea With the Dames" and Rupert Everett's "The Happy Prince," and retrospective screenings of films like Ang Lee's "The Wedding Banquet," ''The Dark Crystal" and "Mystic Pizza."
The political comedy "The Oath," starring Ike Barinholtz and Tiffany Haddish will also get its world premiere at the festival on Tuesday, before opening in theaters nationwide in October.
"Our programming is not some overwhelming thing. It's a tight selection of movies," Cochis said. "Truly, without sounding like a car salesman, there really is something for everyone."
Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A $8 billion defense package approved by the U.S. House of Representatives over the weekend will “strengthen the deterrence against authoritarianism in the West Pacific ally chain,” Taiwan’s President-elect Lai Ching-te said Tuesday, in a reference to key rival China.
The funding will also “help ensure peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and also boost confidence in the region” Lai, currently Taiwan’s vice president, told visiting Michigan Representatives Lisa McClain, a Republican, and Democrat Dan Kildee at a meeting at the Presidential Office Building in the capital Taipei.
In the face of “authoritarian expansionism,” Taiwan is “determined to safeguard democracy and also safeguard our homeland," Lai said.
Also known as William Lai, U.S.-educated former medical researcher is despised by Beijing for his opposition to political unification with the mainland. In recent elections, the pro-unification Nationalists won a narrow majority in the legislature, but their influence on foreign policy and other national issues remains limited.
The Senate will vote Tuesday on $95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.
The package covers a wide range of parts and services aimed at maintaining and and upgrading Taiwan's military hardware. Separately, Taiwan has signed billions in contracts with the U.S. for latest-generation F-16V fighter jets, M1 Abrams main battle tanks and the HIMARS rocket system, which the U.S. has also supplied to Ukraine.
Taiwan has also been expanding its own defense industry, building submarines and trainer jets. Next month it plans to commission its third and fourth domestically designed and built stealth corvettes to counter the Chinese navy. as part of a strategy of asymmetrical warfare in which a smaller force counters its larger opponent by using cutting edge or nonconventional tactics and weaponry.
Lai, of the pro-independence ruling Democratic Progressive Party, won the January election handily and takes over next month from President Tsai Ing-wen, whom Beijing has sought to isolate for the past eight years.
China is determined to annex the island, which it considers its own territory, by force if necessary and has been advertising that threat with daily incursions into waters and air space around Taiwan by navy ships and warplanes. It has also sought to pick away Taiwan's few remaining formal diplomatic partners.
While Washington and Taipei have no formal diplomatic ties in deference to Beijing, McClain emphasized the need for the entire world to observe the strength of the relationship.
“Peace is our goal. But to do that, we have to have relationships and we value your relationship. Not only militarily, but economically,” she said.
Kildee said the timing of the visit was especially significant given the recent passage of the funding bill to “provide very important support to insure security in this region.”
"It’s important for the people of Taiwan, it’s important for the people in the United States, it’s important for the entire world,” Kildee said.
In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, from left Mark Alford, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, U.S. Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee, Lisa McClain, secretary-general of the Republican Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives meets with Taiwan President-elect and Vice President Lai Ching-te in Taipei, Taiwan on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. McClain and Kildee jointly led a cross-party group of lawmakers to visit Taiwan from April 23 to 25 . Members also include Mark Alford, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. (Taiwan Presidential Office via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, Mark Alford, center left, a member of the House Armed Services Committee shakes hands with Taiwan President-elect and Vice President Lai Ching-te in Taipei, Taiwan on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Lisa McClain, secretary-general of the Republican Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives and Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee jointly led a cross-party group of lawmakers to visit Taiwan from April 23 to 25 . Members also include Mark Alford, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. (Taiwan Presidential Office via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, U.S. Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee, left, meets with Taiwan President-elect and Vice President Lai Ching-te in Taipei, Taiwan on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. Kildee and Lisa McClain, secretary-general of the Republican Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives jointly led a cross-party group of lawmakers to visit Taiwan from April 23 to 25 . Members also include Mark Alford, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. (Taiwan Presidential Office via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, Lisa McClain, left, secretary-general of the Republican Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives meets with Taiwan President-elect and Vice President Lai Ching-te in Taipei, Taiwan on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. McClain and Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee jointly led a cross-party group of lawmakers to visit Taiwan from April 23 to 25 . Members also include Mark Alford, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. (Taiwan Presidential Office via AP)
In this photo released by the Taiwan Presidential Office, Lisa McClain, left, secretary-general of the Republican Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives meets with Taiwan President-elect and Vice President Lai Ching-te in Taipei, Taiwan on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. McClain and Democratic Congressman Dan Kildee jointly led a cross-party group of lawmakers to visit Taiwan from April 23 to 25 . Members also include Mark Alford, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. (Taiwan Presidential Office via AP)
