News

In today’s film news roundup, Louisa Krause nabs a role as Billy Crystal’s wife, Jackie Long and Denise Boutte are starring in a romcom, “The Wrong Todd” gets a release and “The Mass Shooting Monologues” begins production.

Castings

Louisa Krause is set to join the cast of Billy Crystal’s comedy “Here Today,” opposite Tiffany Haddish and Crystal who is writing, directing and starring in the film.

Crystal plays veteran comedy writer Charlie Berns who is slowly but surely losing his grip on reality when he befriends a talented young New York street singer, portrayed by Haddish. The two form an unlikely, touching friendship. Krause will play the wife of Crystal’s character.

Krause was most recently seen in the independent feature “Skin,” opposite Jamie Bell and Danielle MacDonald. The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was acquired by A24. She will next be seen...

Exclusive: In Rob Schulbaum’s (Family Guy) directorial debut, The Wrong Todd, the titular Todd (Jesse Rosen) finds out that his girlfriend Lucy (Anna Rizzo) has been offered a promotion on the other side of the country and he has to decide whether or not he will go. Before he can make his decision his evil twin comes to stir things up in his life.

As seen in the exclusive clip below, Todd is in some sort of parallel universe contraption and the Technician (Derek K. Moore) is doing something to help Todd go through interdimensional travel — all while eating a Hot Pocket. The context of the clip is beyond me, but who doesn’t love a movie about an evil twin that is running amok?

If you need more context, the trailer below can unpack the movie for you. The movie finds Todd’s evil twin from a parallel...

Eight years ago, the La Film Festival hosted June premieres in downtown Los Angeles for a pair of decidedly high-profile movies — “Twilight Saga: Eclipse” and “Despicable Me.”

The festival’s 24th edition, which launches Thursday night, will be very different. Film Independent moved the festival from downtown two years ago to the Arclight venues. Tentpoles are long gone. And it’s moved out of summer and into awards season.

It’s not easy for large-scale, general interest film festivals to make an impact in such a sprawling city, where many people are too busy making movies to watch movies. And some filmgoers focus their attention on the dozens of local niche festivals catering to every interest from horror to French films, with Lgbt-focused Outfest claiming to draw the highest paid attendance of any Los Angeles festival.

The La Film Festival is hoping to regain its place among top local events with more than 200 features,...

Film Independent’s Los Angeles event boasts 42% female-directed entries.

Film Independent’s La Film Festival has unveiled the line-ups for five of its sections, with Gregory Dixon’s Olympia, Alex Moratto’s Socrates and Linda Midgett’s Same God among the world premieres.

The festival, which runs from September 20 to 28 this year in Los Angeles, announced 40 features, 41 shorts and 10 episodic shorts from a total of 26 countries.

In competition categories, 42% of the festival titles are directed by women and 39% by people of colour, said Film Independent, the non-profit that also produces the Spirit Awards.

Scroll down for full line-up

Jennifer Cochis,...

Film Independent’s La Film Festival has just announced the official lineup of films in competition for its anticipated 2018 iteration. This year’s fest, running Sept. 20–28 all over Los Angeles, features a heftier slate of programming, including plenty of opportunities for working filmmakers to connect with those in their field. The official U.S. Fiction, Documentary, World Fiction, La Muse and Nightfall selections were revealed, offering festival attendees 24 world premieres and a wide array of stories. This year’s U.S. Fiction category, which recognizes efforts from both new and established American filmmakers, features nearly all world premieres: Benjamin Francis Kasulke’s “Banana Split,” Ann Lupo’s “In Reality,” Gregory Dixon’s “Olympia,” Sara Zandieh’s “Simple Wedding,” Jordan Blady’s “Softness of Bodies,” Mark Jackson’s “This Teacher,” and Rob Schulbaum’s “The Wrong Todd.” “Our mission of finding fresh new voices from different geographical and cultural axes remains true,...

The La Film Festival has placed a heavy emphasis on diversity in its competition film slate, with 42% of the films directed by women and 39% helmed by people of color.

The 24th edition of the festival is also positioning itself as an event for unveiling lesser-known talent. It will take place Sept. 20-28 as it moves from its traditional June slot to the fall awards season.

The Los Angeles event follow the Venice International Film Festival, which begins in late August; the Telluride Film Festival, which runs over Labor Day; and the Toronto Intl. Film Festival, which starts on Sept. 6. The festival will end just as the New York Film Festival begins.

“Our mission of finding fresh new voices from different geographical and cultural axes remains true,” said L Film Festival director Jennifer Cochis. “These storytellers are united by their ability to transport, impact and inspire audiences with the power of their craft.

Forty feature films including 24 world premieres highlight the official La Film Festival competition lineup in the fest’s move into the crowded fall festival corridor, away from their previous early-summer perch.

Among the movies in competition is the highly regarded Swedish film Border (Grans) from director Ali Abbasi, a Neon pickup out of Cannes that took the top prize in that festival’s No. 2 competition, Un Certain Regard. It is listed as a “California Premiere,” which means it likely will show up first in Telluride, Toronto or both before Laff, which runs September 20-28. It will play in the World Fiction Competition across a field of categories that also include U.S. Fiction, Documentary, La Muse, Nightfall. Short Films, and Episodes: Indie Series from the web.

“Our mission of finding fresh new voices from different geographical and cultural axes remains true,” Laff Director Jennifer Cochis said. “These storytellers are united by their ability to transport,...

For its 24th edition, Film Independent’s newly configured Los Angeles Film Festival has revealed its first fall lineup (September 20 – 28), the second under the leadership of Festival Director Jennifer Cochis. The date moves Laff into awards season and direct competition with AFI Fest (November 8 – 15), the last of the fall festivals. This year’s Laff program includes 40 feature films, 41 short films, and 10 short episodic works representing 26 countries. Across the competition categories 42 percent of the films are directed by women and 39 percent are directed by people of color.

The festival remains committed to a diverse lineup of feature films, shorts and episodic series for its U.S. Fiction (“original voices with distinct visions from emerging and established American independent filmmakers”), Documentary (“character-driven non-fiction films from the U.S. and around the world”), World Fiction (“unique fiction films from around the world by emerging and established filmmakers”), La Muse (“fiction and documentary films...

For its 24th edition, Film Independent’s newly configured Los Angeles Film Festival has revealed its first fall lineup (September 20 – 28), the second under the leadership of Festival Director Jennifer Cochis. The date moves Laff into awards season and direct competition with AFI Fest (November 8 – 15), the last of the fall festivals. This year’s Laff program includes 40 feature films, 41 short films, and 10 short episodic works representing 26 countries. Across the competition categories 42 percent of the films are directed by women and 39 percent are directed by people of color.

The festival remains committed to a diverse lineup of feature films, shorts and episodic series for its U.S. Fiction (“original voices with distinct visions from emerging and established American independent filmmakers”), Documentary (“character-driven non-fiction films from the U.S. and around the world”), World Fiction (“unique fiction films from around the world by emerging and established filmmakers”), La Muse (“fiction and documentary films...