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BLFF
HISTORY
Enjoy discovering more about
the History of the Backlot
Film Festival...
From 2004 to today!
Click
here!

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The
2009 Backlot Film Festival Program:
Click on these dates to discover more about the
program
Wednesday,
October 7, 2009
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| 12
Noon
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Pitchfest
Producers of uncompleted projects,
documentaries, feature films, etc. can pitch their projects to potential
producers, distributors and/or investors
Each pitch will last no more than 30 minutes. |
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Tickets:
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2.00
p.m. |
Strike
Up The Band
1940
Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra.
Directed by Busby Berkeley and produced by Arthur Freed - 3 Stooges
Comedy |
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Tickets:
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| 4.00
p.m.
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Unchosen
Companion -
48 minutes
Documentary by Barry Gaines
The story of Stage and Screen Writer Louis Garfinkle's ("The
Deer Hunter"). Twenty-seven year battle with parkinson's disease.
Producer will be on hand for Q&A after the film.
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Tickets:
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| 5.30
p.m.
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88
Keys to Heartbreak -
35 minutes
Fiction short -written and directed by Nishit Mohan Singh
Mohan Sinha a talented musician involved in a car accident wakes
up from a coma after 14 years.
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Tickets:
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| 7.00
p.m.
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Bloomingdale's
Film Initative
Young Filmmakers Program
The Love Game
Directed by Andrew Hunt, award winning writer/director and animator
- A board game about dating literally comes to life for two twenty-something
manhattenites.
My Adventures In Ladies Undergarments
- 4th Floor
Directed by Antonio Campos. While shopping with his mother at Bloomingdale's,
a six year old boy finds his first love, a lingere mannequin.
Recession Special
Written and directed by Emily Abt, recently selected as one of Variety
Magazine's top ten directors to watch. Ella and Liz are best friends
with nothing in common except for their unemployment. When they
decide to throw a party, they realize that ending their financial
difficulties may come with a certain amount of compromise.
Tall Enough
Written and directed by Barry Jenkins; A day-in-the-life piece where
a young couple explore their relationship on a quiet Sunday.
Tea for Three
Directed by Amy Redford and written by Hall Powell. Over tea, the
past and the present collide with the relentless questioning of
a six year old.
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Tickets:
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7.30
p.m. |
The
Harry Hastings Method
A Student film produced by
Culver City High School Student Duncan Ballantine and directed by
Josh Blake. Featuring Jesse Pilchen and Curt Mortensen. A young
cat burglar who is also a would-be-writer repeatedly breaks into
the home of screenwriter Harry Hastings and learns the true meaning
of "The Harry Hastings Method." Adapted from a short story
by Warner Law. |
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Tickets:
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8.00
p.m. |
Toot
Blues discover
more >>
West coast premiere of a
documentary by Chris Johnstone and Anna Ferrarie. Fifteen years
ago, a penniless musicology student, Tim Duffy began the Music Maker
Relief Foundation dedicated to recording and promoting traditional
Southern musicians while helping to improve their standard of living.
The film was made possible with generous donations from Martin Scorsese,
Paul Allen and The Blues Music Foundation Q&A with the producers. |
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Tickets:
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| 10.00
p.m.
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Short
Films
Inventing
Kin
Directed
by Fro Rojas - Winner of 2008 Backlot Film Festival for Best Short
Fiction Film "Pencil Fighting" Produced by Fro Rojas,
Debbie Margolis, Paula Jimenez, JC Nunez. A young woman reconnects
with her father after twelve years of not seeing him. With Nikki
Borges, Marc Macaulay, Melvin Lima and George Smith.
Birth Control
A trio of short films exploring how a young married couple deal
with her pregnancy.
Breakfast With The Wifey,
Drive Thru
and Toast
Produced by Jonathan Dane, who also stars and co-starring Monica
Allgeier, Jorge Luis Pallo, Bo Barrett and Jennifer Marsalla.
Old Dogs
Written and directed by Jonathan Fahn, Produced by Jonathan and
Tom Fahn, With John Saxon, Larry Gelman and Phil Lamaar. Three guys
in their seventies regain their vitality when they mistakenly pick
up a bag of cocaine and are caught between the cops and the mob.
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Tickets:
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| 11.00
p.m.
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Death
Calls
Feature
film - fiction - Produced by Ken Del Conte and Dr. Thomas Washita,
Directed by Ken Del Conte
A love story with lots of action on the Mexican border.
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Tickets:
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Thursday,
October 8, 2009
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12.30
p.m. |
So
Far so Kush
Producers, Alexander Duong
Two small town stoners drive to L.A. in search of a premium strain
of weed known as Kush. |
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Tickets:
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1.15
p.m. |
Invisible
Women
A film by Susan Davis that explores the fading image of mature women
in the media. It spotlights the diminished careers of actresses
who find themselves pink slipped at 40 and challenges the message
that the obsession with youth sends to our daughters and the world.
Q&A with the filmmaker follows.
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Tickets:
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2.15
p.m. |
Words
and Music
Starring Mickey Rooney, June Allyson, Perry Como, Judy Garland,
Lena Horne, Gene Kelly, Cyd Charrise, Betty Garrett and Mel Torme.
Directed by Norman Taurog and produced by Arthur Freed. In Technicolor. |
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Tickets:
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4.15
p.m. |
Medicinal
Documentary feature written and directed by Dan Frank
Documentary that explores the controversy over medicinal marijuana.
In 1966, California passed Proposition 215 which legalized the use
of it in the state. Since then, state licensed clinics and the DEA
have been at odds and thousands of tax payer dollars have been spent
fighting over the controversial initiative.
Q&A with the Producer Director after the screening.
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Tickets:
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7.00
p.m. |
Humanity
Directed by Spike Lee - Produced by Elizebeth Howell and Noika -
Mobile device used to generate original material edited and directed
by Spike Lee. |
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Tickets:
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7.15
p.m. |
A
Vision of Wholeness
Student film by Ben Duffy – Documentary about a Rabbi who
works with autistic boys to prepare them for their bar mitzvah. |
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Tickets:
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| 7.45
p.m. |
JUMP
discover
more >>
Starring Patrick Swayze,
Ben Silverstone, Stephanie Powers, Martine McCutcheon, Sybil Danning
and Richard Johnson. Before he came to America to become a top celebrity
artist, Philippe Halsman (Ben Silverstone) was tried and convicted
in Innsbruck, Austria for the murder of his father. Set in 1928,
against the spectre of Nazism on the rise, Halsman, who is Jewish
was defended by prominent Jewish lawyer Richard Pressburger (Patrick
Swayze). Halsman was convicted on false testimony and flimsy evidence.
Pressburger spent nearly a decade trying to win his freedom.
"Jump"
was written and directed by Joshua Sinclair, multi-talented writer,
director and actor. Sinclair wrote and produced the television mini-series
"Shaka Zulu - The Last Great Warrior," "Judgement
In Berlin" with Martin Sheen and "Just A Gigilo"
Marlene Dietrich's last film.
Q & A after the film with the Director.
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Tickets:
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| 10.30
p.m. |
La
Cucina
Last year's Backlot
Film Festival co winner for Best Fiction Film, directed by Allison
Hebbie and Zed Starkovich, written by A.W. Gryphon whose novel "Blood
Moon" will soon become a major motion picture. One warm summer
evening, in a suburban apartment house, four important meals are
being prepared in the heart of the house; the kitchen.
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Tickets:
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12.30
p.m. |
Drive
A Crooked Road
Starring Mickey Rooney
in a career changing role in a hard-boiled film noir.
Special guest to introduce the film. |
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Tickets:
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2.30
p.m. |
Ticket
To Hollywood
Directed by Antonello
Villani - Introduction to a proposed television series on Europeans
of arts and letters coming to L.A. from 1928 to 1956 spurred by
events in Europe and the opportunities the movie industry in Hollywood
was believed to offer.
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Tickets:
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3.15
p.m. |
90404
Changing
Documentary - Drama
Produced and directed by Michael W. Barnard - This film was produced
over a six year period at the 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica.
Producer-Director Bernard was joined by a group of actors, writers,
students, puppeteers, friends and fellow filmmakers to create a
multidimensional exploration of the decline of the once-thriving
Pico neighborhood in Santa Monica.
Discussion with filmmaker to follow.
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Tickets:
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7.00
p.m. |
Let
It Be
Documentary about three
elderly rice farmers in Houbi Township in Taiwan and depicts their
lifestyles over the last half century.
Co-directed by Yen-Lan-Chen and Juang Yi-Tseng.
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Tickets:
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9.00
p.m. |
Herstory
- World Premiere
Produced by Rayna Saslove
and directed by Krista Eulberg. Comedy Marley a young filmmaker
decides to make a documentary interviewing her old boyfriends to
find out why she chose them.
Q & A with the Filmaker to follow
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Tickets:
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11.00
p.m. |
Midnight
Madness
Till
Death Student Film produced by Devon Perez.
Directed by Hart Perez From St. Mary's College of California.
Two short films by filmmaker Nathaniel Atcheson
The Isolationist
winner of Best Student Film Award at the SoCal Independant Film
Festival, 2008
Sombrero
James and Raymond meet for a blind date at a Mexican restaurant
with awkward results.
A******
of The West Short fiction Film by Matt Oswalt.
Two men fight to the death over buried treasure in the middle of
the desert.
I
Love You- Don't Shoot Short fiction film by
Rob Macie. Complications follow when a man's ex-girlfriend comes
calling as his fiancee is on her way to his apartment.
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Tickets:
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Saturday,
October
10, 2009
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10.30
a.m. |
"KIDS
ARE FIRST"
Free
exhibition of properly installing car seats for tots outside in
the parking lot while cartoons are run inside.
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| 11.30
a.m. |
The New Westenaires
with Paul Pitti, Pam and Randi Turner play Western music and introduce
clips from a new documentary Celluloid
Cowboys
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Tickets:
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| 12.30
p.m. |
National Velvet
Starring Mickey Rooney, Elizabeth Taylor, Anne Revere and Angela
Lansbury Voted one of the most likeable movies of all time by film
critic Pauline Kael.
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Tickets:
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| 2.30
p.m. |
Bravo! Bravo! The Adventures of Bravo
- The Counting Cainine
Documentary by Julian Gotlieb
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Tickets:
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| 3.15
p.m. |
Land of Dreams
a one woman live presentation - portraying a fifteen year old Mary
Pickford as she dreams about her future on her way to New York.
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Tickets:
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| 3.45
p.m. |
The Hoodlum - 1919
silent movie starring Mary Pickford, directed by Sydney Franklin.
Presented by the Mary Pickford Institute for film education on the
anniversary of it's original release. A new HD transfer of the film
by the Motion Picture Academy with a new symphonic score by Bonnie
Janofsky."The Hoodlum" was the second film that Mary Pickford
produced as well as starred in as a young girl on the tough streets
of New York City.
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Tickets:
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| 5.15
p.m. |
Social Security Guard
Written and directed by Jason Cook co-star in ABC's "General
Hospital" starring John Ingell, Matt Ashford and Will Utay.
An eighty year old man struggles to get by after the death of his
wife. - Filmed in Culver City.
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Tickets:
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| 6.30
p.m. |
VIP Reception for Mickey Rooney in Rotunda Room
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| 7.30
p.m. |
Gala
Awards Ceremony in Main Auditorium
FILMMAKERS' AWARDS
BEST FEATURE FILM (FICTION)
BEST FEATURE FILM (DOCUMENTARY)
BEST SHORT FILM (FICTION)
BEST SHORT FILM (DOCUMENTARY)
BEST STUDENT FILM (ARTHUR FREED AWARD)
FOUNDERS AWARD TO CHARLES CHAMPLIN
FOUNDERS AWARD TO SYD KRONENTHAL
THOMAS INCE AWARD TO MICKEY ROONEY
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Gala
Event Pass:
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